A Refresher on Amanda Knox

05 Wednesday Jun 2024

Posted by in astrology, Astrology and Identity, Consciousness Explored, Crime, Current Events, The Astrology of Mysteries

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

,

‘Lady with an Ermine’ By Leonardo da Vinci c1490 {{PD}}

This is an excerpt from a 2013 ECLIPSE article on Amanda Knox, now freshly convicted by an Italian court of slander, as she pointed police during the murder investigation in the direction of a colleague (particularly insidious as the man she accused was also a foreigner, and Black).

Do I sound cynical about this case? Yes, I am, largely because from the very beginning, I felt that one’s perception of Amanda Knox was based on just how willing an individual is to see what’s really in front of them. She’s the classic Rorschach test for each and every observer: for those who are co-dependent, who carry someone in their own life they want to see in a soft light (and so must see that in others who ‘fit the profile’), those who want to pretend darkness doesn’t exist, or those who genuinely don’t see the evil in others, because they don’t have it in themselves, these individuals seem to feel her trial is a travesty, that such an obvious innocent couldn’t have bound and slashed another young woman, slowly torturing her to death. For those who can accept that a book is not so easily summed up in its cover, there are dimensions to be seen in Knox, and possibilities, both for the night in question and for other choices and statements, to be examined–but we will look through the lens of the natal chart, for what it may tell us.

Amanda Knox (9 July 1987 2:47 AM Seattle Washington USA) has a natal chart that perfectly describes this mirror quality, this way in which others look into her physical being (and this is an important point–more in a minute), and see only what they are capable of believing. She has her Earth (the material state we must create in order to live our Soul–Sun–Purpose) in Capricorn conjunct Neptune in the 8th of other people’s resources=we think we are looking at hard realities, but we’re seeing an illusion that bounces back what’s within us. With this conjunction, it’s even easy to forgive the too-generous assessments of Knox’s character; these reviews are informed with an idealism (Neptune) imported by the observer. The key to seeing Knox clearly, though, isn’t found only in the ability to withhold one’s projections, it’s also found in the realization that the physical Beingness (Earth) is providing the illusion (Neptune). We read her and think we ‘know’, but we are taking cues from the physicality that are deceptive, not necessarily deliberately, but certainly played upon by the canny Knox. The Italian and world tabloid press dubbed her ‘angel face’ and ‘foxy knoxy’ during her trial, a good illustration of the physical influence.

With Sedna obscuring things from the unconscious 12th, in generous trine to both Earth and Neptune, Knox may keep a lot riding on this combo: it may allow her to project the image she wants, without too much conscious thought, making the image seem all the more valid to onlookers, and hiding the life-death-life associations, and the play between roles and expectations, even from herself. And speaking of identity, the Cancer Sun in the 2nd quincunxes the 7th House Saturn in Sagittarius, uniting the 4th and the 8th and 9th, family/ feelings about deepest Self, other people and their resources, and foreign travel, among other things, suggesting that the Self is uneasy in situations that combine these, and/ or that the Self is uneasy in reality itself (Sun qnx Saturn). This little complex, and a lot more, was activated on the day of Meredith’s murder.

On the day of the murder, t Mars was moving quickly toward conjunction with Amanda’s Sun (aggression/ assertion characteristic of the Soul, given or received), t Saturn filled in a Grand Trine with n Neptune and Sedna (easy to have a lack of clarity, or outright delusions, about reality at this time), t Venus closely conjoined (Uranian) Zeus (valuing the ambitions and desire state–jealousy possible! which was the contention of the prosecution), t Sun was just past conjunction to n Pluto, but that puts the t Earth conjunct Sedna (‘shining a light’ on darkness/ not seeing the physical repercussions of things), t Jupiter was at the natal Saturn-Moon midpoint (setting the Self free from emotional restrictions–plus natally that unites the matters of 8th and 9th–Capricorn–with matters of the 1st and 2nd–Cancer–implying the possibility of a ‘what’s mine is mine, and what’s yours is mine’ orientation), t Pluto exactly trines n Jupiter (only 2 minutes off–letting rage out, broadcasting darkness, big change, and study of death has come to associate Jupiter with it, so possibly, facing/ creating death could have been, relatively speaking, easy), t Chiron was just past conjunction to the MC (had there been some public humiliation or wounding beforehand?) t Uranus squared n Saturn (a lot of ‘wilding’ energy challenging the status quo behaviors long-term), and t Vesta conjoined Neptune (illusions, delusions, ideals and fantasies are sacred, as are one’s idea of home and the mate). And that’s just what a cursory inspection shows.

Did Amanda Knox murder her roommate? Her frequently changed story in the early days of the investigation did not help her case; she blamed a lot of other people, at various points, with further court actions aplenty. I have a very strong opinion on the case–but so do many others, and all of us may be under that Neptunian spell, judging nothing but our own illusions.

Btw, transiting Pluto is currently opposed her Mars, creating a recipe for answering Amanda’s own aggressions and ego with the energy of ‘birds coming home to roost’; in other words, getting what one deserves. Knox’s chart–

New Moon 6 June 2024 In Love’s Pocket

04 Tuesday Jun 2024

Posted by in astrology, current events in the sky, New Moon, Sabian Symbols

≈ Comments Off on New Moon 6 June 2024 In Love’s Pocket

Tags

, , , ,

By Pieter Claesz c1632 {{PD}}

The New Moon occurs at 5:38 AM PDT at 16 Gemini 18 as the Moon, Sun, and Venus line up–and Venus is latest zodiacally, meaning the Moon and Sun have yet to perfect contact (though admittedly that will happen very soon after New Moon formation, as Venus is only 30 minutes ahead of the lights). The Sun in Gemini puts the spotlight on our thinking, on networking and the sharing and spread of information (or gossip), on the mentality with which we meet life, the messages we send and receive (as much below consciousness as overtly), and the lightning speed with which info is disseminated, including something that’s just ‘in the air’ or that dawns on us with a spark of recognition (whereas a lightning strike of revelation is Uranian, rather than Mercurial). The Moon introduces the emotions and intuition as conduits of this information, and Venus suggests either who’s involved (loved ones, partners, ‘the Other’) or what’s involved (assets, finances, values, treasured connections to others, Love itself). As the Sun and Moon move on, what we find is that Venus in some form is the subject of what we learn, communicate, or receive; in the best case scenario, we find ourselves in love’s pocket, soothed, appreciated, rewarded, the mind verifying what we feel under sunny emotional skies.

A square to Saturn in Pisces and a sesquiquadrate to Pluto in Aquarius may give us pause. In spite of that sunny atmosphere, we’re having a tough time getting a handle on reality and the consequences of current circumstances (Saturn, Pisces); we don’t see just how destructive things could be if they continue in their current form, or we may see that destructive potential but perceive it more as an intellectual exercise, something that won’t seriously affect our world (Pluto, Aquarius). That means we may not be as responsive as we need to be, and we may not take things as seriously as we should, lulled into complacency by the sparkling, love-enrobed energy of Venus, Sun, and Moon. The temptation is to embrace what feels good and ignore what doesn’t–and that’s never a good bet, especially when time is of the essence (Saturn square) and we may feel pressured to lash out and destroy (sesquiquadrate Pluto) trying to gain relief–and so miss that coming reward (Sun and Moon perfecting to Venus) as well as forgoing the power to make real change (Pluto). We can put the Saturn/ Pluto influences in a productive light if we are willing to acknowledge we can’t see everything clearly right now–that reality is unnerving, a little scary–but are still willing to go forward, trusting our ability to respond creatively (Pisces), aware that we can take that Plutonian upheaval and use it as transformative, rather than destructive, even though it’s bound to be difficult to handle (the sesquiquadrate).

So, we end up essentially with two flows of energy that may seem unrelated, but that actually connect through our emotional reality, our Venusian manifestations, and what currently draws our attention. It’s the loving emotions and feelings of prosperity, support, and emotional safety that allow us to tackle an uncertain present and attempt to transform it in positive, ‘modernizing’, even revolutionary ways. The Sabian for the New Moon is, ‘The Head Of A Robust Youth Changes Into That Of A Mature Thinker’. Keeping our heads (in the sense that we don’t insist on either denial of negatives–unwilling to see the darker side of things–or immersion in negatives–being willingly deluded and destructive) will mature our approach to what’s around us and so insure the results of our thinking will bring positive and rewarding outcomes rather than chaotic, uninformed, or destructive ones.

A Season of Revelation 29 May 2024

29 Wednesday May 2024

Posted by in astrology, current events in the sky

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

,

‘Spring Scattering Stars’ By Edwin Blashfield {{PD}}

So Jupiter and Venus have been illuminated over the past week by the Sun–and what has it shown you? Happening in Gemini, this ideally brought insight on Love, finances, relationships, and what we value, and revealed never-before-thought-of opportunities and ideas for expansion and adventure. Sounds great, right? So why hasn’t everything been kittens and roses?

At the same time, the Sun has also been in dialogue with more challenging energies, making a sextile to a 29 degree Neptune and a trine to Pluto in Aquarius. These contacts may have created crises most notably in creative expression and in Truth-telling–that is, we’ve been pressured to account for our use of our own creative energy–and if we haven’t been productively channeling it (in Art, in personal expression of all kinds, in innovative and inventive ways), then almost certainly that energy has been pouring out as destructive and obstructionist expressions–and the worst part could be that the liar, the fabricator, the confabulist, the misleader may be themselves deceived, unsure, doing the best they can with distorted or deceptive information. We’re all trying to exert our Power, but our success requires a clarity of vision that may be difficult to grasp when sorting through so much that confuses and obscures, or when dealing with the Power expression attempts, well-meaning or not, of others.

Venus is just now leaving Jupiter’s influence, so it may be a kind of waking up, a turn to the practical in relationships and finances over the optimistic and expansive, a ‘bird in the hand’ mentality–and that may be just what we need, in preparation for the meeting of Mercury and Uranus in Taurus, a combo promising the sudden realization with rewarding or comforting repercussions. The one thing to be wary of, perhaps, is the way Mars and Chiron are so close, at present. That can make us feel that injury is inescapable, should we act, or even make a choice. But, this pairing is in Aries, with the way to beat that ‘it’s gonna hurt no matter what’ feeling by completely, thoroughly, willingly accepting responsibility for the Self. Doing so should make us hyper-aware of our obligations, our role in things–and hyper-aware that so much more is in our control than we typically realize, especially whether we will see ourselves as vulnerable, as victims, when our openness will show us we are capable of so much more than we usually think we can handle. That’s another element of Uranian surprise, that we are in charge, and inspired by our own ideals and dreams–and there’s no better way to be.

Full Moon 23 May 2024 The Dream in Crisis

20 Monday May 2024

Posted by in astrology, current events in the sky, Full Moon, Sabian Symbols

≈ Comments Off on Full Moon 23 May 2024 The Dream in Crisis

Tags

, , ,

‘In the Luxembourg Gardens’ By John Singer Sargent 1879 {{PD}}

When the Full Moon perfects (the 23rd at 6:53 AM PDT at 2 Sagittarius 55) we see multiple energy streams ricocheting off one another, many of them in an unformed or newly formed state (those very early in a sign, including the Moon, Sun, Sedna, Pluto, and Earth) and others at the very end of a sign, fully developed and feeling strain, in crisis mode (Neptune, Venus, and Jupiter, the latter two close together in Taurus). These are all demanding our attention, and then along comes the Full Moon in Sagittarius, which says, “This is all we’re going to know! These are the (emotional) facts–and we need to accept them!” The Moon itself tells us (by being so early in the sign) that conclusions are premature, most especially those based on feeling or intuition–that sense may in the end be correct, but in the present we will inevitably miss something, our timing will be off, and so our awareness of what is and how we feel about it will suffer–and this is so despite the fact that a Full Moon carries the expectation of endgame, conclusion, completion.

Our emotions around knowledge, ‘the facts’, interests at a distance, beliefs, and other Sagittarius-flavored matters (Moon), our sense of purpose and identity, specifically the way we think about ourselves and our roles (Sun in Gemini), how we perceive and assess our instincts, ‘blind spots’, and what we know but don’t know (Sedna in Gemini), our feelings of power and deep perceptions, especially Truth, as seen through a very modern, even revolutionary lens (Pluto in Aquarius), and the way of knowledge and beliefs interact with our material circumstances (Earth) are all in need of guidance, shape, intention, and aim; they’re new to the energy in which they move, and that may leave us feeling unsure of how to handle them in the moment.

But Neptune, Venus, and Jupiter are all at 29 degrees, with the latter two both widely conjoined Uranus (and with Venus parallel Jupiter and Uranus–so, at the same declination on the same side of the ecliptic) reinforcing the idea of a sense of abundance, Love, and dreams working together, or melding or blending in such a way that one can’t be distinguished from the others. There’s electricity in the air, a sense of potentials and the unexpected, in terms of relationships, reward, and opportunity. That sounds lovely, but it also means we can’t tell where our own responsibility ends and the largesse of others and the Universe begins; it also implies we may see ourselves and our assets and relationships as at the mercy of larger trends or accident and chance–and so believe there’s nothing we can do to affect them. Voluntary helplessness is not the way to go–but what is?

Focus on the Moon gives us a much clearer picture. The Moon sits conjoined the Earth in Sagittarius, opposed the Sun, Sedna (both in Gemini), and the closely placed duo of Venus-Jupiter (Taurus). Luna is also sesquiquadrate Mars in his own sign of Aries, sextile Pluto in Aquarius, and trine that 29 degree Neptune. We see the dispersal of knowledge or the culmination of beliefs (Moon in Sag) illuminated by what we know instinctively, may have ignored until now, but have foreknowledge of deep within (Sun-Sedna), and this reveals how our thinking (Gemini) about relationships, assets, prosperity prospects, reward, and social position is challenged by what we learn at the Full Moon. It’s the facts (Sag Moon) versus fantasy (Neptune) and they go down much too easily (trine), especially those illusions or untruths that we thought we could embrace indefinitely–we likely find we just can’t–or at least, we’re presented with evidence that says we shouldn’t.

What we discover fosters some upset, some confusion, and makes it difficult to know exactly how we should respond or what we should do (Mars), but here’s the thing: if we can link informed, Higher Mind thinking (Moon plus Aquarius–the kind of thinking that keeps us aware of both the greater good and our own spiritual imperatives) with expressions of power (Pluto) and manifestations of creative energy (Neptune) aimed at garnering positive results (Venus-Jupiter), we should do very well indeed.

The Sabian for the Full Moon is, ‘Two Men Playing Chess’. The Sun sits at ‘The Garden Of The Tuileries In Paris’. Think strategically, look for the beauty that surrounds, and remember, it’s all just a game, in the end.

New Moon 7 May 2024 Genie in a Bottle

06 Monday May 2024

Posted by in astrology, current events in the sky, New Moon, Sabian Symbols

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

, , , ,

‘Stories from the Arabian Nights’ By Laurence Housman and Edmund Dulac 1911 {{PD}}

The New Moon perfects at 8:22 PDT at 18 Taurus 02, cupped by Venus on one side (at 10 degrees) and Jupiter and Uranus on the other (at 25 and 22 degrees respectively). Both Jupiter and Uranus can be considered conjoined, simply because the fast-moving Sun and even quicker Moon will relatively soon meet them–it’s a building energy–but what about Venus? 8 degrees past is a wide margin–and yet, with a chart that stars the Moon, we can look at this well-past aspect and know it describes the recent past, the time just before the New Moon. That suggests that we’ve been immersed in Venusian matters in Taurean form, which include issues of comfort, sustainability, security, artisanal efforts and aesthetics, stubbornness, loving nurture, as applied to relationships, finances, and/ or values. Our focus there led us to the New Moon beginning; that fresh beginning offers a different perspective on the involved energies, a new outlook that sends us in a new direction in seeking emotional fulfillment in Venus matters. It’s like letting the genie out of the bottle: it promises power, it’s magical and exciting, we see the potential to have exactly what we want, but there’s an awful lot that’s unpredictable and uncontrollable about the situation.

Now the spark of the New Moon presents to us something optimistic, exciting, shocking, unexpected, in the form of opportunities, prosperity, or startlingly inventive ways of looking at things, engaging the Higher Mind, or even asking us to embrace chaos or anarchy, in order to reap the benefits. It’s a scenario that may cause alarm, and certainly may exaggerate the reality picture, but it also confers a great deal of positive, looking-forward-to-the-future energy–and that can be a rocket engine to accomplishment or the securing of one’s place in the world.

There’s also a trine to Ceres and a sextile to Saturn formed by this New Moon, suggesting we can build real-world personal authority or negotiation power out of these circumstances, and Saturn further promises, along with Taurus, material impacts, ones that we can see around us, or hold in our hands. The Sabian for the New Moon is, ‘A New Continent Rising Out Of The Ocean’. It’s an image of Taurean productivity–new land!–but it also prompts us toward the state of Neptune, which is at 29 degrees of its own sign of Pisces, and is sextile Sedna, another sea denizen, and in the other direction, Pluto. That implies that what’s birthed with the New Moon is a most basic kind of change, the creation of a new foothold, new territory (and this appearance was inevitable, pressured with that 29 degrees exclaiming how the energy must express), a kind of Truth or circumstance of Power that becomes visible and usable. And what accompanies, or even prompts, this? Emotion, the province of the Moon and every Water placement we have. Neptune says the dream, in some form, may be coming true, at last, and Sedna says that whatever appears to us, our instincts and what we ‘know but don’t know’ will tell us exactly what is happening, and more importantly, why it’s happening. We get the lay of the land through our own intuition and other senses–so we’ll understand, whether we’re truly open to, or happy about, what’s happening around us, or not.

Two other points: Jupiter-Uranus are trine the Black Moon Lilith point, and Chiron and Mercury are closely conjoined in Aries. With the first we may see New Moon energy arising at least in part from those matters we’ve ignored or denied, or that enrage us. Our optimism and the opportunities presented may stir up everything we’d hoped to forget–and yet, if we accept that even what we’re not proud of has had its role in making us who we are today, we’ll perhaps learn that to forgive ourselves is to free ourselves. With Chiron and Merc we see our biggest obstacle: a tendency to allow our hamster-wheel thoughts to wound us, to dig up those things we’ve buried and insist we must hurt over them. We don’t have to; that’s just our own aggressive energy looking for a place to light–and if we see that, we can refuse the Self-inflicted wound, and put that Aries pioneering energy to work for that Neptunian creative goal.

The Local Landscape 30 April 2024

30 Tuesday Apr 2024

Posted by in astrology, current events in the sky, future events in the sky, Transit Effects Explored

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

,

‘Swiss Landscape’ By Alexandre Calame 1830 {{PD}}

Just a few things to keep in mind this week, starting with a Mercury-Chiron conjunction in Aries that perfects May 6th but is already within orb. This is a bit of a slow burn, with Merc still picking up speed after direction, meaning we have an unusually long window (in terms of Mercury) to experience this combo. In Aries this blend of energies can make us feel alone, isolated, our wounds and our thoughts looming larger-than-life. We have the sense that others are exerting their Will on us, but we can’t forget we’ll have the same tendency with them, and likely won’t be conscious of it; there’s also an issue of words, thoughts, and ideas hurting, whether they’re our own or hurled at us by others. This period is the equivalent of emotionally-charged quicksand. To be conscious of it is to give ourselves a chance to minimize damage and to survive what feels like a hostile and unforgiving mental jungle.

Uranus conjoined Jupiter is still in force, but waning in intensity as Jupiter moves at a quicker speed than Uranus and puts steadily growing distance between them. At this point the big Taurean splash is over, and we may be left either struggling to deal with the aftermath, or trying to make that outsized spark happen again. If you dealt with this as an ‘individual vs. group’ situation, you are likely feeling relieved but at the same time a tad left behind, as the group moves ahead whether we like it or not. Part of what we need to realize is that this aspect presented things to us in electrified, exaggerated terms, and though that makes the everyday look dull, it brought a shock that would be disastrously debilitating if we had to live it 24/ 7.

Venus in Taurus square Pluto in Aquarius perfects on May 1st; Luna will have just passed over Pluto, possibly igniting dark thoughts or urging us to take extreme action in finances or romance, as the emotional landscape looks bleak, a ‘nobody gets out of here alive’ feeling. Our values may seem threatened, our Love vulnerable to destruction, and relationships or earning circumstances may seem like they’ll have negative consequences–and they just might. We may intuit a depth in the resources or relationship picture and a very specific conflict around it; address this with care, always remaining mindful of the way the Mercury-Chiron pairing may make us entirely too conscious of our own pain, while Venus-Pluto may make us believe there’s only one, permanent way out of getting hurt again–and neither of those is really accurate. Being too aware of a wound means we take our attention away from what we’re doing or faced with–we’re illogically gun-shy–and that puts a barrier between us and perceiving reality correctly; being too frightened of what we might lose will warp our behavior and choices, and will definitely put us on an undesirable track. So, act as if you want to keep what you love, treat those things or people with dignity, care, and affection, and let the rest fall away. The truth around Venusian areas can be tough to take, but it’s necessary to know where we actually stand.

Neptune will reach the 29th degree of Pisces May 3rd. This degree suggests the body is under stress, its energy in some way desperate to express, to be heard. When that energy is Neptune, all bets are off. The only way to know how this might manifest is to know your natal relationship, as well as the current transit picture, to all that Neptune stands for: creative energy, deception, imagination, ideals, with a potential to birth our greatest ideas and to mislead ourselves or others and not even know that’s happening. This influence lasts to July, when Neptune appears to retrograde (bringing confusion over Neptunian choices so far or inspiration gleaned from previous Neptunian experience, and possibly causing us to change our minds or retreat) and continues into early September, then emerges for another go-round when the planet again hits 29 degrees, starting in early March 2025. Hints for handling this include finding and actively employing a creative outlet (or two or ten! Just be sure you’re doing ‘it’, not just thinking about ‘it’), being ‘married to the Truth’ so that you won’t succumb to fantasy, and embracing and accepting (rather than denying) areas of life where uncertainty reigns. To demand answers can undermine that way Neptune has of orchestrating the Universe to hand us the best possible outcome–so I guess trust in ourselves is what we need to practice.

Have a wonderful week!

Full Moon 23 April 2024 A Kassandra Moment

22 Monday Apr 2024

Posted by in astrology, current events in the sky, Full Moon, Sabian Symbols

≈ Comments Off on Full Moon 23 April 2024 A Kassandra Moment

Tags

, , , ,

Waves at sunrise in Corniche (Sète, France) 2020 By Christian Ferrer
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0

The Full Moon perfects at 4:49 PM PDT at 4 Scorpio 18, trine Vesta, sextile Juno, semi-sextile Pallas, square Pluto (which happens to be conjoined the asteroid Kassandra, more on that later), and not touching much else. It’s a picture of deep change–things are either swept away forcibly or we are put in a position that leaves us little recourse but to eliminate, restructure, resurrect, or annihilate–and this occurs even as we witness our own positive control of our power (Juno), our effective dedication to what we care about (Vesta), and the benefits of our partnerships and cooperative efforts (this latter via Vesta and Juno energies as so often involving–even existing because of or in relation to–the Other, particularly our Significant Other). So, in many ways we are experiencing the harmonious impact of our own power expression, our effectiveness at impressing ourselves on others and our environment–and yet there’s a serious power matter or elimination (Pluto) to attend to, one that the Universe refuses to let us go forward without answering.

A Full Moon is an energy culmination, and presents the collective result of, in this case, efforts in Scorpionic areas or activities, and/ or in the subject areas of the House in the natal chart where the Full Moon falls. We get the results of previously ‘digging deep’; we may put the story together, discover something new that knits scattered evidence into a whole, or we may see the wisdom behind what was removed, destroyed, or forbidden and so understand why what’s happened has happened (the last a product of a loose semi-sextile of the Full Moon to Pallas).

Here’s the kicker: Pluto conjoined Kassandra suggests that the Universe delivers a tough (square to the Moon) moment or incident that offers Higher Mind understanding (Pluto-Kassandra in Aquarius), but we won’t believe what is revealed/ shared. Kassandra, you’ll recall, was a priestess with whom the Sun god Apollo fell in love (and the Sun is actually part of this equation, as it opposes the Moon-Earth and so fills in a T-square with Pluto-Kassandra). Apollo offered her the gift of prophecy, hoping to win her favor; she knew what he expected from this gift (so it wasn’t really a gift, right? It was payment), but once she received it she turned him down, incensing the god. What the gods confer they cannot take back–but they can affect the working of that gift. Outraged at her refusal of his suit, Apollo condemned Kassandra to be always right about what she foresaw, but never believed by others.

That’s a particularly bitter outcome, when we receive what we need to hear, know, or perceive, and yet we are unable to see the Truth of it; that’s exactly what we should expect here: deep, intense perceptions that we will judge to be incomplete or inaccurate. How do we answer that?

We may not accept the power situation and/ or knowledge presented, but we do have a clear, strong influence of Self-confidence and personal autonomy aligned with highest values and commitments (Juno, Vesta) that, if we’ll accept our own emotional Truth (those things we know because we feel their Truth deep within–Moon in Scorpio) we’ll be able to go round the misleading Pluto-Kassandra square and so effectively make the ‘right’ decision, do what needs to be done.

The Sabian for this Full Moon is, ‘A Massive Rocky Shore Resists The Pounding Of The Sea’. The reality of the moment is a rocky shore: ‘What Is’, heavily resistant to abundant and persistent emotional assault of waves of feeling and upset. This is the Full Moon square Pluto-Kassandra. The Sun, light-giver that we always examine at a Full Moon, has the Sabian, ‘A Widow At An Open Grave’. ‘Widow’ describes a particular status: receptive, anima energies without their balancing animus, doing energies. This implies our energies are lopsided: too receptive, too passive, too ready to accept the way things are, too accepting to demand answers, or to insist we must know what that grave is for (and note: there’s not necessarily any connection between the woman’s status and the fact that an empty grave is before her–if we find ourselves looking without and connecting externals to our own internal state, we may be drawing parallels where there are none).

The suggestion may be that, when it comes to the Full Moon scenario, we’re too likely to see ourselves as helpless in the face of greater forces (like death–and Pluto can certainly feel death-like), to perceive ourselves as all feeling, no action–which is never truly an accurate perception, is it? Abdicating our own part in things, remaining passive, is its own kind of action, its own choice. Maybe this reminds us that to see ourselves as subject to outside forces (even to see ourselves as victims) is to pretend we have no part in what’s happening, and that this perception denies our responsibility for our own lives, our own fates.

PS Though there’s been a lot written about this week’s Jupiter-Uranus conjunction, I thought it worth adding that this is an aspect of ‘The Big Big Picture’; that is, a coming together of immensities, of large groups or populations, of huge ideas and all-encompassing concepts, of philosophies and facts and urges toward independence, toward free thought and expansion, toward the kind of impetus for shifts and change that comes in surprising and overwhelming ways. We’re talking about societal moments, rather than individual ones–but we can’t over look the way the social order affects each of us, in uniquely individual ways. Look at the matters of the two Houses in the natal chart that are ruled by Jupiter and Uranus=that’s where you see personal movement, in a blending of their subjects, delivering a dynamic message. If the conjunction aspects something in the natal chart (no more than 3 degrees variation) that is likely to expand that energy and activate it in big, surprising, exciting ways. But of course, it won’t necessarily make a big splash in everyone’s week, or month, or year, and you shouldn’t feel badly if this week has been on the less revolutionary side for you. For many, it will be as if they’re riding a current that after this point flows, just slightly, in a new direction, with the energies acting as a background to more personal, more immediate, developments.

Venus Conjoined the North Node

17 Wednesday Apr 2024

Posted by in Aspect Delineation, aspects and placements, current events in the sky, North Node, the Vertex

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

,

‘Path in the Wheat Fields at Pourville’ By Claude Monet 1882 {{PD}}

I’ve been seeing a lot of commentary on this event, specifically described as bringing a fated meeting, love, or benefit into the life. In my view this isn’t quite accurate. Can it bring that? It’s possible, of course; but the North Node, a point of extremity in the Moon’s cycle, I interpret in the natal chart as indicating our ultimate life direction–not an end point or goal, but a heading, like finding a region on a map (the sign) and moving toward it throughout our time here. In a transiting situation, like now, this brings, in matters of the natal House where it falls, something Venusian related to aspects of our Path/ current life direction. These may touch on issues around our relationship to the energies of the sign where it occurs and/ or our relationship to Archetypal Venus energies: Love, partnership, the Arts, social interactions, assets/ income, or those natal Venus energies found by House location, House rulerships, and/ or Venus’ sign in the natal chart. We have to customize our assessment of a transiting aspect’s impact on the individual–it takes some parsing, especially if the aspect makes contact with other natal placements–and typically the meaning of this will fit well into some scenario we’re currently part of. Naturally, the conclusions we reach, and the intensity or lack of it we experience, will be different for each of us.

What would I read as bringing a fated meeting, inevitable reward, the creation of something (in the Arts, particularly) that defines who we are? That would be transiting Venus meeting our natal Vertex. The Vertex is a point of intersection, where the ecliptic and the prime vertical meet; it’s opposite point is the anti-Vertex, and like the Nodes and the Sun-Earth axis, Vertex and anti-Vertex are always located exactly opposite each other in the flat chart. Anything touching the Vertex, by natal aspect or transiting contact, takes on a definite, life shaping aura. It marks points of crucial decision making, encounters that mark direction altering milestones or experiences, and even if the astrological event seems to occur without causing a ripple, it can often mark a time we will look back on as important because we reached a particular conclusion or make one of those passive, anti-choices that end up determining so much of our way forward. This, too, must be customized, with focus on our relationship to the transiting energy natally, and to what it rules or contacts.

Some may feel that the North Node and the Vertex are essentially the same thing, but I would argue that the North Node is about our choices, and the way the Universe will nudge us in a particular direction, one we have a Soul deep need to explore and experience; the North Node is our True North, a compass point we inevitably orient ourselves to. On the other hand, the Vertex strikes me as involving the orchestration of a great many external elements; those encounters or events or even acts of creation (or, more likely, their recognition) largely happen to us, even when we are catalyst or initiator. One is the Universe gently pulling us, the other is the active hand of the Universe reaching into our lives and shuffling the deck, putting a card that we must play in front of us, challenging us to see the import of the moment, and its potential consequences. We can only hope to recognize those moments, when they come.

Promises in the Aftermath

10 Wednesday Apr 2024

Posted by in astrology, current events in the sky, eclipse, Jupiter-Uranus Conjunction, Mars-Saturn Conjunction

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , ,

‘In the Land of Promise’ By Charles Frederic Ulrich 1884 {{PD}}

Where do you find yourself, days after the total Solar eclipse? In talking with others, I’m hearing two distinct kinds of experiences: one that is a laundry list of what we’re sure to see as negative effects, things we must face that there’s no way around–some of which may have been at the edges of our conscious mind for some time, anticipated for ‘someday’–and the other appears fortuitous, but still haunted by an awareness of our vulnerability, our mortality, ‘good’ happenings that contain within them conditions that reflect how lucky we are in the moment, how one day ‘it’ will end. That tracks, considering the trip to the Underworld we were promised; what may be surprising (and we were promised a surprise, too!) is the solemnity of what we’re facing, the potential for life turning points that seems to lurk beneath even the most casual of decisions.

This is all good. It’s causing us to choose with care, to think about the impacts on others and the future, and it’s fostering a very positive kind of sensitivity, the kind that gives empathy and Love a prominent place in consciousness, and so in relationships and decision-making. Ruler of the eclipse, Mars, is currently in Pisces conjoined Saturn=this is action, choice, reality generated against a background of the creative energy of All-That-Is; it’s our personal creativity and ideals shaping the Cosmos, and the Cosmos shaping us. We’re offered disciplined choice guided by ideals, constructive creative energy, and a chance to build reality as we imagine it should be.

The other important influence is the upcoming meeting of Jupiter-Uranus, perfecting soon (19th-20th April) in Taurus=the most obvious potential possible with this is sudden opportunity, surprising expansion, fortuitous chance, the individual acting on the group, the group affecting the individual, innovation or invention that opens the way, with Taurus suggesting a material outcome, a shift in prosperity, artisanal output, quality, or productivity, a surprise around our sources of security, stability, or comfort. But, for a more personal glimpse at what this means, we may want to first note the matters represented by the House in the personal natal chart that contains Taurus–this is where the action is–and as well to note the matters of the Houses ruled by Jupiter and Uranus–these matters are likely to combine in some significant way involved in those Jupiter-Uranus meeting effects. Then there’s the matter of Venus, ruler of Taurus, at the time of conjunction just past mid-Aries=this emphasizes the power of the individual to affect things, and again emphasizes the role of choice and of taking action, and how this will largely determine results for the individual.

An example: A Whole Sign Sagittarius Ascendant puts the eclipse in the creative output/ children/ risk-taking 5th, along with Venus, and sees Jupiter-Uranus in the every day, duties and obligations, work 6th, and Mars-Saturn in the core Self/ home and family of origin/ end-of-things 4th (and you’ll note, this is likely to be mostly or entirely in one quadrant of the chart, in this case the one that deals with preparing efforts to put out into the world and be judged for, 4th-6th). Jupiter rules the 1st, Uranus the 3rd, suggesting the individual and their thinking are key to what happens; the eclipse offered healing around creative efforts or matters of the individual’s children or ventures, and promises reward if this is addressed (the presence of Venus). This comes in the course of the every day, fulfilling obligations or work, and responds to the core Self (beliefs, especially about who this person is deep inside) and is reflected in home or family matters. In this case, the ‘children’ could be artistic output, or a risk-taking venture, but in any case centers on how this person is viewing this matter, and how open they are to implementing what they (ideally) want, via work, taking on or fulfilling duties, or in dealing with colleagues (the ‘where the action is’ 6th).

All this together, major conjunctions plus eclipse, may offer that promised healing–at least, that’s how I’m seeing it, not only because it makes sense, but because that attitude is it’s own promise, it’s own magic, it’s own blend of the opportunity and optimism of Jupiter and the willingness to risk and overturn of Uranus that can deliver what we seek. Willingly or not, consciously or not, we’ve taken a big step forward; reach out, choose, give it the shape of your dreams.

Total Solar Eclipse 8 April 2024 A Journey to the Underworld

02 Tuesday Apr 2024

Posted by in astrology, current events in the sky, eclipse, New Moon, Sabian Symbols, Solar Eclipse

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , ,

‘The Fate of Persephone’ By Walter Crane 1877 {{PD}}

A friend of mine is traveling from Seattle to Texas to observe the eclipse from the path of totality firsthand–and I can’t help but think it’s a pilgrimage, whether he’s conscious of it or not, meant to heal, with the meeting of Sun and Moon (at 19 Aries 23, 18:20 UT), the Moon throwing itself between us and the Sun, all bodies lined up along the plane of the ecliptic, also conjoined Chiron (only 1 minute apart), this body designating the primal wound, the deepest, farthest-from-consciousness hurt of all–and that says to me that we all may be engaged in a form of healing with this blending of Sol, Luna, and the Wounded Centaur, a chance through renewal of the ‘I Am’ and worth of Self (Aries) to restore at a personal level the vitality of the Sun, the unadulterated sensitivity of the Moon, and the sense of dedication and purpose behind both identity and the Soul’s intent. A resurrection for each of us, if you will.

It’s interesting that this eclipse wipe-out energy doesn’t involve the persistent, everyday obliterating energy of Pluto–there’s no Scorpio involved, and Pluto doesn’t hook in any way into the eclipse dynamic–and yet the event promises us a deep re-think about who we are and what we’re doing, courtesy of the wide conjunction to a retrograde Mercury in Aries (though Pluto is quincunx the Trans Neptunian Object (TNO) Chaos as well as major asteroid Vesta, suggesting anarchic upheaval in the home or in matters we are–or were, until the eclipse hit–dedicated to). The eclipse trines Persephone in Sagittarius, hinting at the journey to the Underworld we all, at least temporarily, must make, and emphasizing the way we will return to the light–even if it seems like we won’t. So, there’s plenty of dynamic (and potentially destructive, or maybe misleading) energy pinging around out there–and our job may be to know it when we see it, which can help us avoid responding unthinkingly, and so falling victim to it.

The eclipse energy represents a spiritual, rather than a cellular, anastasis–and as such may explain a sort of atmospheric fear swirling around right now–because who isn’t at least a little unsettled by the idea of death, or trepidatious confronting the unknown? And we are promised a surprise delivered by the vastness of the Universe, with the eclipse semi-sextile Jupiter in Taurus, which is itself conjoined by Uranus (though the eclipse is out of range). Jupiter is, among other things, a designator of that longest journey we take at the end of life, with Uranus introducing a version of the three-body problem, roughly explained as an inability to predict with any certainty the long-term path of any combination of objects. In Taurus this suggests material roots, and material effects, though it may manifest as changes in our sense of security, our comfort, or or our ability to provide for our own or others’ needs.

Do we even need to mention Black Moon Lilith in Virgo quincunx the eclipse? Something we’d rather ignore or deny, or that enrages us, is an uncomfortable trigger to events–and this discomfort is seated in criticism, or the need for an accounting, or perhaps is spurred by an unfair or inadequate sharing of ‘the harvest’. The Sabian for the eclipse is, ‘A Young Girl Feeding Birds In Winter’. A young girl is just beginning her life, while winter is the season of sleep, torpor, but a necessary step to renewal–and birds are wild things that struggle during periods of scarcity, suggesting that it’s the young, fresh, renewed part of us stimulated by the eclipse that can ‘feed’ those more spontaneous, wilder impulses within us that might not make it through tougher times without a little help. Self-help, then, in its most positive sense, an ability to act, but it’s important to note: timing tells us that winter comes at an expected time, and only lasts so long–remembering that this, too, shall pass, is an important part of dealing with what comes.

Julie Demboski's ASTROLOGY

Addressing the Individual Experience Within the Universal Truth

Skip to content ↓