Category Archives: Transit Effects Explored

Eris In Action

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In honor of Eris helping us not be run over.
‘A Woman Defends Her Castle’ From Smithfield Decretals [Decretals of Gregory IX]
Author: Raymund of Peñafort, editor; Bernard of Parma, glossator
France 1300-1340 (text), England circa 1340 (illumination) {{PD}}

So, I thought after yesterday’s explanation of how I see Eris, an example is in order. The current situation with the sitting governor of the state of New York, Andrew Cuomo, involves women speaking up about mistreatment–which seems like an Eris situation, or at least one where she might have something to tell us. How convenient that Cuomo has promised to walk away from the governorship after accusations by at least eleven women of groping, assault, and inappropriate behavior led to a plethora of investigations, a potential impeachment, and (so far) at least one criminal complaint.

As of the 10th’s egregiously Self-serving press conference, the situation has revealed that 1) Cuomo’s made so many enemies during his strong-arm political career that when he needs them he’s without friends, and 2) that in spite of his many excuses, no one’s buying his ‘they moved the line as to what’s acceptable’ reasoning. Touching someone against their Will has always been over the line; Cuomo’s inability to admit he’s wrong is firmly rooted in Self-justification that says, I have the right to do as I please with others–the kind of power statement made by those who both hold power and believe in their own superiority. All his rambling, kitchen-sink speech on resigning the governorship has done is show the world how Cuomo doesn’t grasp that hiding his aggressions behind ‘friendly’ manhandling of both men and women isn’t acceptable–no matter how you characterize it and what you call it.

We have a birth date and place but no time for Cuomo (6 December 1957 ntk Queens New York USA). I drew a noon chart, as this gives us a clear idea of what his Moon situation is–in this case, showing that no matter when he was born, the Moon was in Gemini; this also shows us he was born not long before a Full Moon that will form early hours EST of the following day. No time unfortunately means we have no angles and no Houses, but we can see plenty just from relationships between bodies.

Eris is conjoined Hygeia and Vesta in Aries, and may sextile the Gemini Moon. If the sign in which she sits is any indication (and it is) his Eris may have issues with Will, assertion, and aggression. He may, in a phrase, insist upon himself. This also suggests a focus on ‘Me First’ in areas of health (reasonable) and in what he may commit to and find sacred, the problem with this latter being that, when one believes the decision of what’s sacred, what to respect, is one they are personally granted to make, one doesn’t completely respect anyone or anything else–the viewpoint is instead that they are the final arbiter of every topic and individual’s worth.

Eris’s placement is both a little wide for a quincunx to the North Node, and for a trine to Uranus–only a square to Mercury in Capricorn is in orb, aside from the conjunctions. Mercury in Cap suggests organized, structured, and constructive communications–we saw this in his daily Covid briefings early in the pandemic–but these same briefings also showed a plodding insistence, repetitive expressions, and a notable defensiveness (just think of the nursing home scandals that he managed to, if not bury, certainly dilute their political potency). In square with Eris-Hygeia-Vesta, we see persistent defensiveness over what, and probably how, he communicates, especially in areas of health, commitment, and what should be honored–so with the latter an inclination to reject what the establishment (Cap) thinks is honor-worthy in favor of, again, whatever he decides (Aries).

From what I could find, it appears the press conference began at 11:53 AM EDT 10 August. If that’s even close to accurate, that gives us a Virgo Moon square the natal Sun-Saturn-MC/ Earth-Juno axis, suggesting an emotional point of extreme tension regarding the established professional identity/ reputation and the material empowerment situation, especially the way the fortunes of the material environment ‘turn’, for him, on the empowerment of women. The natal situation with Earth-Juno further suggests that how he treated women he found ‘worthy’ was an integral part of his story–certainly true right now, and perhaps true over and over for him, throughout life.

And what’s transiting Eris doing right now? She’s conjoined his Sedna in Aries, and opposed, only one minute past exact, his natal Jupiter in Libra. aha! Here Eris’s presence may reveal by disturbing the ether, by shaking things up, by seeking justice, as she forces what Cuomo ‘knows but doesn’t know’, his ‘blind spot’ material, out into the open, this only reinforcing the awareness that he really does know what he did was wrong–but that he also allowed himself to continue with this behavior by pretending it wasn’t.

Transiting Eris’s opposition to Jupiter is interesting, if we see it both as his proclivity to push past reasonable boundaries (literally encroaching on others’ personal space) within relationships (Libra), and opportunity, publicity, and popularity, as defined through the public lens. An opposition describes some of what he did in his resignation speech: point the finger of blame at absolutely everyone and everything else, from cultural norms to political enemies to (hold on to your hats for this one) vengeful women.

Currently, transiting Eris is in close semi-sextile to transiting Pallas and square transiting Pluto, suggesting that difficult change, even destruction, stirred up by Eris (remember, she’s a catalyst) contains a certain amount of wisdom. As to the idea that what’s happening is vengeance on the part of the (female) accusers, it’s pretty clear to me it’s not. Transiting Eris is quincunx transiting Venus in this chart, the latter of which was due to be hit by the Moon before it left Virgo, which may at first glance imply this is revenge on the part of the women–but look again: t Eris isn’t contacting his natal Venus, which is at 00 Aquarius, implying a newness for Cuomo in the ‘modern woman’ concept as part of his core perceptions, and t Eris also isn’t in contact with his Ceres at 29 stressful degrees of Cancer, making Ceres a natal out-of-sign opposition to his natal Venus.

That scenario says it was almost inevitable that his reaction to the personal authority and autonomy of women in his life would create problems. Ceres so late in Cancer and under pressure from the modern idea of womanhood (opp to Venus in Aquarius) suggests to me that he’s a bit of a cave man, longing for the days (at least, a time he thinks existed) when women were responsible for nurturing–indeed were required to nurture (and so required to coddle, indulge, and cooperate with) everyone in their sphere. He’s always had trouble treating women Beings as valid in their perceptions and rightfully autonomous as himself; that’s his flaw, not theirs. When we see that transiting Juno is trine his Eris, and transiting Mars is quincunx it, we get the message that it’s his own assertive actions, his own choices, that have put him in this uncomfortable position (the quincunx), and that transiting Juno in Sagittarius has been stirred to speak up for herself, to take her own power back by broadcasting exactly what happened, by getting the facts out into the open.

And to those who say, why didn’t those women speak up sooner? I have to answer: if you’re asking that question, then you’re either oblivious to the system we live in (one in which it’s an uphill battle for women to be taken seriously, to be believed, even after Me Too), or oblivious to the massive power imbalance that made Cuomo, like so many other men, feel it’s their right and privilege to take what they want.

Tomorrow’s Eclipse

13 Sunday Dec 2020

Posted by in current events in the sky, eclipse, Solar Eclipse, Transit Effects Explored

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By Kudaibergen Urinbayev – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=46217328

In case you haven’t seen it, here’s something on tomorrow morning’s Solar eclipse–and if it aspects any of your natal placements, there’s something here on what to possibly look for. Have a wonderful eclipse, and stay safe!

Finding Joy in the Horoscope

13 Friday Sep 2019

Posted by in Aspect Delineation, astrology, Consciousness Explored, Something For You, Spiritual Considerations, Transit Effects Explored

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‘Circle Dancing’ By Franz Stuck 1910 {{PD}}

I thought instead of a forecast for the weekend (because I anticipate we’ll all be sorting through the Lunar energies of the Full Moon for a bit), I’m offering a re-print from ECLIPSE, modified and edited slightly. Have a wonderful weekend!

Do you ever have a moment with a stranger? One where your eyes meet and you feel this kind of Soul blending and for a heartbeat of time you completely lose awareness of your surroundings? The moment stretches, and then you fall out of it, as abruptly as it began, usually at the moment you realize how odd it is for you to have locked eyes with a total stranger. It’s funny to think that some of the best moments I’ve ever experienced were brought about by this kind of wordless, ultra-fleeting encounter; what made it pleasant were two conditions that gurus are constantly telling us we need to cultivate: losing awareness of the Self, and losing spiritual boundaries, in the sense that you lose not just the consciousness of yourself as separate, but feel a distinctly boundary-less connectedness, a Oneness with All That Is, because in truth, when you are having this kind of experience, you are not just one with the stranger, you are one with everything.

Neither of these, the loss of Self-awareness or the sense of connection, can be commanded consciously. We may well ask, why do we not share many, or any, of these moments with people we already know? It doesn’t happen for a very simple reason: because we have imposed a thick lens of expectations, anticipations, imaginings, and the past onto the individuals we know, and it keeps us from connecting on that pure level. Sometimes, of course, spirit manages to leak through the illusions each has imposed upon the other, and we do have that moment of perfect harmony, perfect awareness—but not often, and certainly not as often as we’d like with our most intimate relationships.

Of course, there are ways to encourage such experiences, as through meditation (an attempt to set Self-consciousness aside), in sleep (through dreams, where the unconscious, and so our connections to the Cosmos, become prominent), and in the practice of seeing without that imposed lens, which can only be dealt with consciously, moment-to-moment—something the Seeker strives for continually. We can note the propensity for such experiences, as well as the likely venues or circumstances during which we may experience them, through the House placement of related energies; more on that in a moment.

‘Young Man and Woman’ By Charles W. Hawthorne 1915 {{PD}}

There is another kind of communion with a stranger, one where the connection sparks from observing or being involved in a mutually shared experience, usually starting in a shared remark, an answer, and an understanding. This typically leads to the temporary loss of boundaries between the two spirits involved; we share the experience through a common event, a shared observation or connection that is like an acknowledgment: “Yes, we have shared the same thing, at the same time, we understand each other”. This does not often have the purity of the Soul-to-Soul encounter, but does include the feeling of connectedness; in this instance, we don’t lose the sense of separateness, but do feel the link to others. These often have the character of Jupiter (the social scene), Uranus (a group experience), or Neptune (the ‘mass’ experience, shared with a very large group).

The more intimate, Soul-to-Soul, boundary-less moments can be characterized by transiting bodies making contact to natal bodies, with the area of experience delineated either by the House transited and/ or by the House matters ruled by the contacted body. For instance, Ceres transiting the 4th square Uranus in the 1st in Virgo, ruling the 6th, can bring a harsh experience or surprise from Nature (the square) that reflects the health, or comes from or affects the job or duties (6th) but that could result in a transcendent moment that illuminates one’s connection to Nature, that even shows one how much a seamless part of Nature we truly are as human Beings. It’s the real-life Circle of Life, and during our brief experience we are at One with it. Or, this same contact could bring forward a deep inner sense of natural authority (Ceres) that is expressed as higher knowledge or through taking an academic or innovative (Uranus) approach on the job or toward health (6th).

I think of these moments, even when instigated by less-than-pleasant happenings or triggers, as points of Joy in the chart, potential times of learning and transcendence. Here are a few of the possible associations that will help you find the potentials in your own chart. Whether the contacts are transiting, Solar Arc, Secondary Progression, or natal, they all carry the ability to offer those fleeting times of perfection in relating to All That Is.

The inner planets offer some obvious entrance points to joy when contacted by transit, though as transiting elements themselves they typically must aspect one of the ‘heavier’ energies (Jupiter out) in order to have the potential for this specific kind of impact—and of course, those contacts are most fleeting. The Moon speaks of joy gained through emotional experience or intuited in purest form, the Sun through expression of the identity or Soul Purpose, Mercury through communicating something we consider important, Venus through Love or the experience of reward or expression of values, and Mars through taking action or a statement of ‘I Am’.

The asteroids act as more narrow conduits, and in the case of Sedna the body moves very slowly, prolonging the contact to a natal body. Sedna aspecting a natal body brings long-term experiences of the depths of the contacted energy that takes us close to life-death-life, probably repeatedly and in many forms.

Ceres signals joy gained through expression of authority, power, connection to Nature, nurture of what ‘belongs’ to you, or negotiation, Vesta through gestures involving those energies to which we are dedicated, the home and mate, through what we regard as sacred, Pallas through use of practical skills or innate wisdom, Juno through circumstances of empowerment or status, and Zeus through realization of ambitions and desires.

Jupiter offers the joy of expanding one’s world or experience, as well as the joy gained from acceptance on the social scene. It also signifies the joy of knowledge, the desire to ‘know just to know’ and the association of this energy with ancestry and the past, as Jupiter carries the kind of information that relies on the accumulated knowledge of those who came before.

Saturn offers the joy of reality, as well as the intangible joy of accomplishment. Sometimes we denigrate the material world, mistakenly believing that it’s inferior to the spiritual. In such an instance our definition of spiritual is lacking: the material world is the spiritual world, as much as the unseen factors are. When we look at our material surroundings and physical manifestations and happenings as indeed spiritual, we open up an entirely new way of relating to the material—and we begin to see the infinite in the finite, in what can be held in the hand.

Uranus offers the joy of surprise, the joy of the new, the joy of awakening, intellectually or otherwise, and has the unique ability to give us the experience of leadership and individuality at the same time as it can blend us perfectly with the group.

Neptune offers the joy of creation, with the manifestation of what one has only dreamed or imagined, the potential of living one’s ideals, and holds the most promise for the boundary-less experience, as does anything related to the matters of the House that contains Pisces.

Pluto offers the joy of renewal, of change, of the end of something painful or arduous, and the joy of phoenix-like transformation, with re-birth as the ultimate expression of pure hope, with a sense of hope bringing the greatest joy of all.

Catch Friday night’s Full Moon report here–

A Little Something On Eclipses

28 Friday Jun 2019

Posted by in astrology, eclipse, Lunar Aspects, Lunar Eclipse, Solar Eclipse, Transit Effects Explored, Transits and Cycles

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By Kudaibergen Urinbayev – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=46217328

Here’s a little something in general on eclipses and how they may impact the individual chart.

Neptune and the Spiritual Quest, Part IV

17 Sunday Jun 2018

Posted by in astrology, Neptune, Transit Effects Explored

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Very Neptune in the 12th House, this. Arthur Hughes – ‘Sir Galahad – The Quest for the Holy Grail’ 1869 {{PD}}

·         Neptune at the Midheaven can spell ‘c-r-i-s-i-s’ as we lose sight of who we are in relation to the world, can cause others to project an image on us (a glamorous one, one that casts us as Savior, or one that calls us ‘Liar!’ for a few possibilities), or we may actively hide who we are behind a Neptunian drape painted only with characteristics and an image we want others to see. Much of the effect achieved through this contact will depend on how we have been using and processing Neptune up until now; it will likely shake out as a period when we feel extraordinarily helpless in affecting our reputation, or we’ll be totally in command, selling a chosen illusion (this isn’t necessarily a bad thing–think of an actor who bases her or his reputation on an idealized social Archetype).

·         During transit of the 10th Neptune either works powerfully in our favor, aiding us through the impression others receive, or it casts us as victims in some form, making us misunderstood. At this point our spiritual quest is right out in the open, though we quickly become aware of how powerful Neptune is, as well as how the energies are ordered through the unconscious and the Collective, often almost without any awareness on our part. This is typically a ‘make or break’ time for an individual, with it being almost impossible to say what the effects of the transit will be without knowing the particular goals and dreams she or he harbors, as well as what public role she or he is playing; it is safe to say, though, that the effect of the spiritual state on the career will be defined at this time and manifested in creative and unique ways.

·         In the 11th Neptune is right at home, bringing dreams into reality as well as pointing out what illusions have, until now, kept us from achieving them. This is another House where Self-honesty is vital to real progress. The quest in this House is almost self-igniting, putting a flame under even the most unfocused or easily distracted of us. The challenge, though, is that our purpose will be vetted through either taking our own place at the head of the pack (as a leader in our field, say) or expressing as a unique individual doing something entirely (to our own minds) new, and it becomes apparent quickly that in both cases we need a group, to bounce our ideas off of, to lead, to impress, or to whip up into anarchy–and that makes us susceptible to the group’s sway, power, and opinions–not the independent position we might be inclined to at this time. Weaknesses exist in possible deception from friends and through groups, in our own unwillingness to see a long-held dream in real terms, and in the propensity for some to drift and seek escape, once they see that realizing dreams takes real work.

Passage through the 12th works below the surface, or for some shows through interaction with large institutions, through healing or spiritual work, through relief work, or in the meditation or dream life. This is highly individual, running the gamut from completely internal to taking an almost Cosmically large part (but how big can the part really be, in all the Cosmos? a more accurate idea may be ‘to take part without boundaries’) in Universal proceedings. The quest in this House becomes an effort to know the Soul, so that repressed experiences come forward once more, hidden materials surface, denied knowledge is re-awakened, and our relationship to All-That-Is permeates consciousness and every event in life. Can draw the unexpected into manifestation from the unconscious, and so often is a time filled with revealing, surprising, and life-altering events.

Neptune and the Spiritual Quest, Part III

15 Friday Jun 2018

Posted by in astrology, Neptune, Transit Effects Explored

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Ernst Ferdinand Oehme – ‘Procession in the Fog’ 1827 {{PD}}

·         When Neptune hits the Descendant we may project the dream or the spiritual quest outward, onto the masses, and we could be tempted to make others responsible for our own creativity or dream attainment. We could see the answer to Neptunian issues lying with the world itself: Martin Luther King had transiting Neptune on the Descendant degree, just 37 minutes from perfection, when he delivered his ‘I have a dream’ speech.

·         In the 7th Neptune puts us in something of a bad spot: we may be seeking the ideal companion, partner, or mate, just at the time when we are most likely not to see others clearly. Again our experience depends a great deal on how willing we are to be honest with ourselves; if you run from Truth at this point, you run from clearing the fog and using the creative energy that is in reality at your disposal. What I’ve seen most often with this transit is that the individual is invited to see his or her associates in all parts of the life with clarity, and it’s only his or her unwillingness to let go of Neptunian illusion or deception that prevents this. That implies that Neptune isn’t the source of confusion, but instead merely a kind of mirror that reflects this very thing as it exists within us. We could even say that Neptune prompts the imagination to fill in the blanks and make intuitive leaps that reveal everything we might want to know at this time–and it’s up to us to look at what’s revealed, rather than to look away. Neptune through the 7th can be a difficult transit for artists, as a lack of confidence could make us see talent and creative ability as ‘out there’, making it hard to identify the creative essence within our own make-up. Travel and social interaction during this transit can be highly inspiring, and should be undertaken if possible. A desire to see the world and others in it as they truly are seems to be the key to using Neptune’s transit of the 7th to full advantage.

·         Into the 8th Neptune may bring forward shared creative ventures, dreams, and causes that rest on ideals or spiritual aspirations shared with others. We may take the role of inspiring others to great heights with this transit, whether we are ‘natural’ leaders or not, and our mere presence may act to inspire those around us; our own spiritual attunement seems to ‘show’, somehow, and we wear our dreams and ideals on our sleeves. What we share with others of a spiritual or creative nature is the focus. We may become proselytizers of sorts, seeking the spiritual in Everyman, and our interest in exploring spiritual facets of the life-death-life cycle can inspire profound exchanges with others (however, this comes with the caveat that at this time we can be inadvertently destructive in our zealousness). We also may become adept fund raisers and project instigators under a banner of betterment: if you have every wanted to contribute to a cause in concert with others, this is when it’s most likely to happen, and in the process offer you deep personal insight into your own and others’ spiritual natures.

·         Through the 9th Neptune takes that spiritual insight gained in the 8th and shares it with others on a larger stage, and through formal means, such as print, broadcasting, teaching, or in some way codifying insights. This may take one on an actual, literal pilgrimage, or could (with the right natal influences) make one a spiritual teacher, prompt one to enter a religious discipline or order, or could inspire study, publishing one’s work, or traveling–but in any case, this transit gives all choices that fall in the 9th House the flavor of the spiritual quest–so though one’s external circumstances may not change at all, one’s interaction with the world becomes a vehicle for exchange of spiritual knowledge. This transit is when we are most likely to consciously consider making spiritual work some aspect of our life’s work, and when we may form the basis for our spiritual philosophy, or re-form it, depending on in which House our natal Neptune started out.

See today and tomorrow’s forecast here–

Neptune and the Spiritual Quest, Part II

14 Thursday Jun 2018

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A. Y. Jackson -‘House of Ypres’ c1918 {{PD}}

·         Neptune crossing the IC may bring forward one or more instances of questioning the identity, obscuring ‘where we live’ in a psychic sense, or false starts in the ‘what I should be doing’ department. The contact places a layer of uncertainty and creative potential over the deepest beliefs about the Self and, reflexively speaking, shines this on the Midheaven as well. Can mark the beginning of a shift in Self-perception that drives new career, creative, or path-development options.

·         Neptune through the 4th sets us on the quest for an ideal home; this often takes both a literal form and a figurative one. An environment most suitable to the ideal Self is sought, and we may explore different living situations, in the hope we’ll find the one that feels completely like ‘home’. It’s unlikely we’ll find anything that fits the bill, simply because for Neptune home is the womb–a place we can’t exactly crawl back into! There’s often lots of uncertainty surrounding the living situation when Neptune transits here, and typically at least a few crises focused on the way in which we live (earning a living and/ or the routines or habits of consumption or daily life). Some with this transit enter group living situations such as communes or shared housing, and radical changes to possessions (particularly to the idea of what we need) may occur; it’s also possible that becoming a vagabond of sorts to a Collective cause may happen, effectively ‘dissolving’ the need for a home, at least for now. Everyone taps a deep inner creativity at this time; some will funnel Neptune into decorating and creating an ideal environment, and it’s easy to think we are meant to hang out our shingle and decorate everyone’s homes, become artists, or otherwise abandon careers to do something we’ve only just taken an interest in–but as with the creative writing of Neptune’s transit of the 3rd, only those with some proclivities for this shown elsewhere in the chart, a natal influence that’s been under development before Neptune’s ingress to the 4th, should take such a potential path seriously. This transit may also plant the seed for mental, emotional, or physical maladies of a hard-to-pinpoint Neptunian nature that show up later.

·         In the 5th Neptune seems to summon the natal Neptunian proclivities and apply them to the creative acts, the children produced, the romances concocted, or the risks undertaken by the individual. Here we get much more of the flavor of the natal placement, rather than an undiluted Neptune vibe, and perhaps this is because each of the events/ acts associated with the 5th are Self-generated: you can’t make a project, a child, love, or gamble without willing participation. Permanent shifts in the way we regard 5th House subjects may be brought on during this transit, either from uncertainty and questioning of our previous approach, or through a new ideal or creative form that comes to our attention at this time. We may measure each House area for its personal spiritual applications for us–for instance, we may decide that our spiritual development does not require us to experience romance, or to have a child, and so these may be checked off our list forever. Trends seem to split into the highly idealized (which typically takes further efforts into ‘striving mode’–as with Art, or a new, imaginative goal or project–or into the realm where no further changes will come about–as in, for example, the idea of a ‘perfect child’ or perfect work of Art, that one will then not have, or not attempt to create, in order to maintain the possibility) or into a fixed state of delusion, fantasy, or inadequacy, wherein no efforts can move us forward, yet a lot of energy goes into yearning for the imagined outcome. We either ‘snap to’ as Neptune transits this House, and eventually muster vast creative energies in a highly original way, or we sink under the weight of a Self-imposed and accepted confusion (or beneath a choice to be indifferent, disoriented, or unfocused) that permanently excuses us from participating in 5th House areas of life.

·         Through the 6th Neptune can wreak havoc in the everyday routine and on the job front; it may seem there’s always something going on of which we’re unaware, or about which we haven’t been informed, so necessitates a scrambling to keep up. Confusion about our true duties and obligations can cause us to neglect what’s really meaningful to us and a sense that no progress can be made on the job front may be disconcerting and cause us to ‘give up the quest’. Unless our daily efforts are keyed to the creative or are in some way Neptunian, this transit can be highly debilitating, as it seems that we can’t gain ground, and can’t really tell the whys or wherefores of our distress. This is often the time when Neptunian illness seeded during transit of the 4th shows up, as the 6th is a house of health and the body. Best use of this passage for Neptune may be if we can see the bigger, spiritual point to our daily activities; if we can connect the dots between our own little lives and the workings of the Cosmos, we just might find a highly tuned Purpose behind the everyday humdrum and chaos, one that brings unprecedented peace and acceptance, taking our Beingness and our attunement via the mundane to a whole new level.

See Part I here, or what’s coming up later in the month here or the current forecast here–thanks!

Neptune and the Spiritual Quest

14 Thursday Jun 2018

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Bernard Hall – ‘The Quest’ -before 1935- {{PD}}

This is part one of a re-print from ECLIPSE, slightly modified and added to, centering on the effects of Neptune transiting through the natal Houses, though much of what’s said may apply to a natal placement in a House, as well.

Just looking at one facet of Neptune, his relationship to the spiritual in our lives–which really is everything in our lives–whether it be material circumstances, relationships, health, prosperity or lack, it’s all a simultaneous reflection of, creation of, and expression of our spiritual attunement. We can’t really separate out the Neptunian spiritual element from everything else–which is what makes the House position of transiting Neptune so important, as it tells us where that spiritual element may be especially active at any one time, in spite of any illusions, fog, or disguises it may veil conditions with.

Though we have very specific spiritual questions particular to the individual before us at all times, there is a broader influence from transiting Neptune that turns our attention repeatedly toward the spiritual essence of the matters of the House where Neptune currently is located. In areas where Neptune transits we may find ourselves working very hard to define subjects particular to the House it’s moving through; it’s as if we are squinting into the fog, looking for definitive outlines of what is spiritually true in this area of life. Neptune stirs our sense of creative potential as it transits, and even if we aren’t conscious of it, we are inspecting the House matters with an eye to what we can make of them, possibly at an idealized level. Notice that progress of Neptune through the Houses shows how our handling of the transit through one House and the associated success/ effectiveness is built upon that of the previous House; our chances of handling House energies well in relation to Neptune grows with how well we have handled each preceding stage (i.e. House) and its requirements.

·         Moving through the 1st Neptune makes us highly aware of the parts of our lives where we are truly applying spiritual principles. We look for the discrepancies between how we present ourselves and what our spiritual principles are stated to be, and in particular we inspect the mind/ body connection for spiritual dis-ease that shows as physical disease. We may be searching for ‘the perfect body’ or the perfect personality, and so we may show many of the hard-to-pin-down characteristics of the planetary energy; in seeking perfection of Self, we may be succumbing to a Neptunian delusion, accepting an externally sourced ideal as our own, deliberately adopting an illusion (about the Self), or mustering the creative to serve the personal, physical manifestation. We imagine what we can become, and in some way pursue it.

·         Transiting the 2nd Neptune typically strongly affects one of two life areas: we see Neptune applied to either the talents (showing as a massive push to mobilize the creative abilities to maximum use) or to earning capacity (possibly in going after ‘the dream’ as a source of income, or in pursuing ideals in a version of, ‘Do what you love and the money will follow’–which only works if the thing we’re pursuing is truly something we love, rather than something we’d like to don to fit an image–which itself is a misuse of Neptune). This is a true test of talents, abilities, and most importantly, our own capacity to be honest with ourselves. If we wrap ourselves in Neptune and deny the reality of our abilities, pretensions may be adopted and worn as ‘the answer’, with disastrous results. Self-image must match talents–when it does, quality-of-life and income dreams can come true. Neptune moving here inspires us to make manifest an ideal Self-image; it’s up to us to make sure this image is authentically our own.

·         Passing through the 3rd Neptune embeds himself in the realm of communications. Thought and all communication functions present us, in some way, with ideal creative potentials (even if that way is to show us what we don’t want or don’t know). We strain to perceive the spiritual behind communications, and we can’t shake the Neptunian influence, which may make some feel as if they just can’t think straight (and this should be taken into account–the individual can’t perceive objectively, no matter how stick-to-the-facts they are–this is because temporarily we’re shifting from facts and what’s obvious to gleaning information intuitively). During this transit we learn all about the unspoken in all forms of communication; we learn to read between the lines, and we become attuned to the messages contained in tone of voice, in gestures, and in the mere presence of another, much more finely than we may have been attuned before (this can also occur with Neptune moving through or natally in the 8th). Lessons in communication may come hard, as we are open to deception and susceptible to going along with something if it promises wish fulfillment. What’s written down becomes important, and we may embark on a writing career or avocation, if this was otherwise on the agenda for us, or lose ourselves in the writings or communications of others, a ‘dreaming all the time’ position. This transit often serves us a portion of humble pie, as we too often miss something important in the instructions, and this transit may convince some they are exceptionally talented psychics–but if the revelation of talent comes with this transit, it’s much more likely that one is simply discovering how to read what’s been there all along, in the same way others do. Through the 3rd we’re seeking to understand communications beyond the mundane, and we have the sensitivity to do it, though our ‘receptors’ may be clouded with any illusions we insist on clinging to. Modesty and a realistic viewpoint help us avoid delusion, and finding form for and deliberately communicating our own creative urges means they are less likely to bleed out in ways that sully our exchanges, contracts, agreements, attitudes, or that send an inaccurate message to others.

More to come on this!

Odds & Ends: Lilith and Chiron, Empowerment by Sign, and More

01 Friday Jun 2018

Posted by in astrology, Transit Effects Explored

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Over at ‘Been There, Done That’, I’ve just answered a reader’s question on the relationship between asteroid Lilith and Chiron in her chart.

In case you missed it, there’s also yesterday’s post on empowerment and what each sign needs some version of to feel empowered.

And here’s a re-print from ‘Eclipse’:

“No burden is so heavy for a man to bear as a succession of happy days”     –Max Planck

‘Oww, That’ll Leave a Mark’

The Astrological Heavies in Transit

With transits of the outer planets to the natal chart, I want to look specifically at the burden to the spirit they may evoke, the weight that may accrue to the outlook and cause depression, ennui, frustration, distraction, or a sense of a loss of Purpose. Of course, not all transits produce an effect, and often there are a number of different manifestations that occur from slow, long-term contact from a transiting body to a natal one, some of which are experienced as positive and some as negative.  Our discussion will ignore most if not all of the positives of these transits; we’re concentrating on the mental, emotional, and spiritual ways the outer transits may bring us down, often in ways we don’t immediately recognize as stemming from these particular energies.

Jupiter–I know! You don’t expect the planet of abundance to do damage, but it will, if what it’s magnifying by aspect carries morose or regretful energy to begin with. Any out-of-balance energy contacted may get exaggerated and possibly broadcast; we are often more ‘visible’ when Jupiter aspects important bodies, especially when it contacts bodies that represent some major part of us (the Sun, for example, or the chart ruler, or the ruler of our Midheaven or the point itself, which is already highly visible). Easy aspects (sextile, trine) mean we can slip into a negative state without even realizing it, likely believing that our behavior or choices will soon make us feel better; hard aspects (possibly the conjunction, square, opposition, quincunx) may bring knowledge or public exposure that sends us off the deep end. Some of the worst benders (emotional binges, risk-taking of all kinds, indulgences in food, alcohol, or indiscriminate shopping or sex) come with a transit of Jupiter to a planet or point harboring unresolved issues.

Though Saturn often presents as classic depression, it has other, more subtle ways of affecting us as well. It can take away any or all of our appetites in such a way that we simply think we’re off sweets or travel or sex, when we are actually profoundly sad–and that’s the Saturn secret: it can manifest as real but undirected heartbreak, so that we have the sensation without it actually belonging to any specific thing in the life. Saturn contact can also suppress immune response via devastated emotional perceptions; the reaction can be so strong that the body perceives it as a physical blow attacking every cell. Real physical pain, often in the form of all-over aches and soreness may also occur in what is in essence a kind of spiritual or emotional Rolfing (an intense method of massage that re-organizes the positioning of the connective tissue, or fascia, throughout the body, on the theory that painful experiences, emotions, and life events affect these tissues and are ‘carried’ within them, distorting the body’s natural posture and balance in the process).

Uranus we expect to see as a shock or surprise–but it can be a ‘sea change’ to the group we once felt so much a part of, something subtle, with only the realization of our changed position a sudden revelation, not the change itself. Disorientation and confusion (from a feeling that things are chaotic) can sweep in like a wave, and temporary loss of intellectual acuity or grasp is a distinct possibility. A feeling of alienation may hit, cutting one off from the usual lines of spiritual, emotional, or mental sustenance, and our response may be to freeze in place, fearing erratic behavior, sudden change, or the unanticipated, as we may sense these are basic components of the energy that feels like it’s making an assault on us. We may also feel surrounded by chaos, alone in the riot. Uranus by transit can be largely unseen, manifesting in intangible ways, and so can make us feel paranoid and at real bodily risk though no threat is apparent.

With Neptune we expect to be distracted, misled, or inspired, but we may end up in a Cosmic funk, wondering about our place in the Universe–or feeling very very small in the scheme of things. We could also feel as if we don’t matter, or even that we don’t exist–the Neptunian awareness of ‘All-That-Is’ dwarfs our own perception of our personal role until we may feel we’re no more than a speck–and any of these viewpoints can bring forward fear, a sense of disappearing. Reactions to what feels like imminent obliteration can get us into trouble if we go into ‘I’ll do anything to survive’ mode.  Some will take to the feeling and eventually lose the fear, accessing tremendous spiritual knowledge and experience, as well as immense creativity. The spirit longs to respond to the Neptunian influence, but may be overwhelmed by Neptune’s all-inclusive nature when it tries to express through the finite physical existence–and our imaginations can run away with us from there, for good or ill.

Pluto transits can be very dark, leading us Orpheus-like into our own personal Underworld–but that can be a very good thing, if we open our eyes to the secrets, hidden matters, and power that we’ve stashed away outside our own awareness, and can result in us returning to the surface enlightened in some important way. We expect rage or sexual aggressiveness under Pluto, but may not anticipate the potential for quiet withdrawal and depth of contemplation, as re-generation occurs. Clean-sweeps may take place, but these are sown with myriad possibilities for the new and the original, as Pluto floods us with our own particular expression of the Soul’s ultimate power. For many this will be overwhelming; the need to turn away will curtail acceptance of the complete slate of potentials and truncate the power expression to fit the scale of the life. The brave may end up immolating themselves through intense Self-examination and testing in the physical world, only to rise to a completely new level of Being, once the transit has passed. Death-defying feats are common at this time; Pluto takes us outside our comfort zone, and only by crossing the wasteland can we return to it.

And skip down to the comments section for a moving and evocative account of real-life shared by Zack.

Or re-visit ‘Goddess Energy’

This might make you laugh–I did

Have a lovely weekend, my peeps! “

 

Chiron Into Aries and A Life Lesson in Astrology

24 Tuesday Apr 2018

Posted by in Chiron, Transit Effects Explored

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Chiron has recently entered Aries (and later today the Sun will semi-sextile it from 00 Taurus, offering a solid, real-world glimpse of Chiron in action in your life). A change of sign for Chiron is like a change of sign for any other body: there’s the slightest shift to related energies in the air, but nothing changes for natal placements in Aries (or by hard contact to other Cardinal placements) until Chiron is within aspect orb, and of course, it doesn’t assert itself in general until there is contact between the asteroid (or is it a comet?) and other bodies. There, I’ve said it. Quit hyperventilating about how a body changes sign and the angels sing and fire falls from the sky and everyone gets a kitten–they don’t, it doesn’t, and we have to go out and find that kitten like every other time we’ve gotten one.

So what changes? Every time Chiron aspects some other transiting body, or is aspected by one, we have the chance to see Chiron in Aries in action–and that might be quite literal, in this Fire sign–so that we may notice how our own actions, or the aggressive choices of others, have caused wounds or healed them. The emphasis is on the individual responsibility for hurting and healing. During the transit of Chiron through this sign, we are bound to discover our own role in things, as well as the best actions we can take to make use of our Chirotic skills (indicated by Chiron’s position and contacts at birth). This may also foster expectations that alone we can move mountains–we may feel the hurt of trying to remedy something on our own, without assistance–but that is likely an illusion, created by too much attention to our own wounds. Handling this transit well requires enough humility to see that others are wounded, too, and that being responsible sometimes means recognizing the validity of others’ injuries, stepping out of the Aries box that says, ‘I, I, I, me, me, me’ and recognizing our likeness to and ability to partner with others (the reciprocity of opposing sign Libra).

Will this affect relationships? Yes! Especially early in the transit, before Chiron has made many contacts to other bodies or to individual natal ones, we may be prone to see ourselves as more separate than is real, to laundry list the ways others have hurt us–but perspective on our own role in things should be the goal, and when achieved will work wonders to illuminate all that’s right about what we and others do.

A Life Lesson in Astrology

You can skip this unless you’re a practicing astrologer or want to get the most out of your astrologer in your role as client–and even then, you have a choice 🙂

I once consulted for a corporation that was entering delicate negotiations; understandably, they wanted guidance that would result in them attaining their goals (yes, I’m being unusually vague here–though it happened almost twenty years ago, I still believe discretion is required). They filled me in on what they thought I needed to know, which resulted in a delay in understanding the charts, as I had to ask them multiple questions in order to sort it all out. So, lesson #1: astrologers, like physicians and lawyers, need to know the truth (or at least the actual conditions), if they’re going to be most effective in helping you.

Once I received answers what was showing in the chart became clear, and I provided a detailed assessment of the situation with the other side, and how to approach things in order to get the desired result. They went into the negotiations, came out three hours later, and immediately contacted me: they had chosen not to follow my recommendations, instead taking a radically different tack, and had not gotten their desired results–could I tell them what to do to get what they wanted now?

Dutifully I set about outlining conditions responsive to the present negotiation point. Things had ‘narrowed’, so to speak; by taking the actions they had, they had lost some of the options open to them initially, and I made that clear: the approaches they’d chosen in-the-moment had shut down certain options the opposing entity had originally been open to, meaning that the opposing side had seen demands and an attitude they didn’t like, right off the bat, and my clients were paying the price for that now. I did emphasize that it could all be saved, if they followed ‘x, y, and z’.

By Margret Hofheinz-Döring/ Galerie Brigitte Mauch Göppingen, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4278292

Negotiations resumed the next day, and my client contacted me at lunchtime. They hadn’t really liked what I’d recommended, had followed their own inclinations, and now wanted to know: could I tell them what to do at this point to get what they wanted? I understand that it can be tough to accept that someone many miles away has given you a battle plan that doesn’t seem the right thing to do when you’re in the room hashing it all out. Clients get spooked all the time, unable to believe that the advice they’ve paid for might actually see something they don’t, but that’s exactly it: if their own perspective was completely effective, they wouldn’t need someone else to weigh in, to provide guidance.

Of course, I outlined the present options, noting that several previous potentials had now been actively eliminated by the opposition (it seemed to me they were becoming more and more untrusting of the very aggressive and demanding tack my clients had taken and continued to take). Yet, there were still possibilities, and the whole thing could be salvaged, and I told them to the best of my ability how that could be accomplished–but they chose not to follow my recommendation, and when they showed up the next day to resume negotiations they found that the other side had terminated the interaction.

My client berated me: why didn’t I know they wouldn’t continue negotiations? If they’d known that they would’ve approached them in the evening, hoping to forestall a shutdown to talks. I apologized, saying there’d been no indication at our last point of contact that they would refuse to continue negotiations–and then it came out that my client had contacted them in the evening, and that’s what blew the whole thing up!

So here’s the point of this shaggy dog story: What you do with the information you receive from an astrologer (or any other individual offering life advice) is entirely up to you, and it should be–my judgment isn’t meant to replace yours, it’s meant to enhance it, to inform it with another viewpoint, to reinforce what’s working and minimize (hopefully) the effect of contrary forces. And as an individual, I don’t care what you choose to do–I can’t care, because if I did that would enmesh me emotionally in a way that would make my advice far less effective, as it would be far less objective.

But, and this is a massive one, to repeatedly return to a source for advice and repeatedly to then ignore that advice just doesn’t make sense; it instead suggests some kind of magical thinking is going on. Maybe there is a belief that simply contracting for services guarantees you get what you want–and then when you ignore the advice and don’t get what you want, you blame the astrologer, reasoning that they would’ve given you some kind of magic recipe or formula, or invested in persuading you, if they had been any good! Or you don’t blame the astrologer, but then feel justified in continuing a ‘poor me’ scenario, or maybe one of ‘confusion’, telling yourself, ‘Well, I tried to fix it’. Or maybe it’s the kind of thinking that can’t or won’t admit that current reasoning isn’t cutting it; a vanity that so distrusts contradictory input is bound to lead the individual astray, because that mind can’t learn. Or maybe it’s this: that in the end, each of us believes soundly that we know best for ourselves, and we do–but that works to our benefit only when we are honest enough to see that where we are is because of how we think and the decisions we’ve made, so that asking for help becomes genuinely looking for assistance by exposure to another point of view, not looking for a reason to continue a reckless and Self-indulgent ride.

See the answer to the Aspect article and see more ‘What You’re Asking’ here, and have a lovely day!