Today is Monday, Nov. 14, 2011. This week, all week, the astrology is dominated by the centaur planet Pholus. You may have never heard of Pholus, but you’ve felt its effects many times. It’s the thing at work when a small decision or action has an unexplainable, cascading effect where one thing leads to another to some unexpected — and large — result. When Pholus is in the picture, it’s vital to use the energy in your favor rather than have it work against you. As with all the centaur planets (the first of which was Chiron), the key to this is awareness.
Awareness — that elusive thing. Every spiritual or therapy tradition has a name for it: mindfulness, raising consciousness, focus, paying attention, coming out of a trance. Then there is real life. We live in a world where it’s considered okay to drive a car through a crowded city while simultaneously listening to the radio, drinking coffee, smoking a cigarette and talking the phone. Nearly everything around us is designed to distract us or put us in a hypnotic state.
This is the week to drive (and only drive) while you’re driving, eat when you’re eating and read when you’re reading. Even if you’re an extremely talented multitasker, keep things down to a dull roar and really pay attention, because this week your actions will have effects. You can prevent things from going in unwholesome directions if you know this, and you can remind yourself that small moves mean a lot.
It’s also the week to proceed with intention. Either work on developing your vision, or stick to the one you’ve got. Sagittarius, where most of this astrology takes place, is a visionary sign, and the aspects are calling for clear focus and making conscious choices, as if what you decide actually matters. The chances are it matters far more than you think.
In a moment we’ll provide the technicalities about this astrology, in case you’re curious. Two more points first. One is that on many accounts, the sky is lit up with centaur energy. For different reasons, Chiron, Pholus and Nessus are all activated right now. Centaur energy is edgy; it can have us feeling on edge, which is sometimes a double edge. There can be confusion between healing and wounding; there can be unusual fear or psychological material coming to the surface. Situations can be unusually reactive. Prepare for this in yourself, and expect it in the people around you.
Second point: one of the planets involved in the setup describes the absence of moral or ethical boundaries. Be especially cautious of anyone who professes that there is no difference between right and wrong, that ethics are inconvenient or that it doesn’t matter if this thing we’re doing hurts someone. We are in an extended moment when things really do matter, and matter a lot more than we may think.
The technical description of this astrology involves Venus and Mercury reaching the middle of Sagittarius. At the moment there are many slow-moving planets and points right there. These include Pholus, to which both Venus and Mercury will be making conjunctions; the North Node of the Moon, which has a feeling of amplifying karma; and the Great Attractor, which amplifies everything that comes into contact with it. So if Pholus is reactive, Pholus together with the North Node and the Great Attractor is several orders of magnitude more potent.
Then add one last thing — a slow-moving Pluto-like planet called Ixion. That’s the piece cautioning about suspending morality and warning that you or others might be tempted to do so. One not-so-little problem we face on this plane of reality is not understanding karma. That is to say, we don’t tend to understand the relationship between cause and effect. Our actions have effects and what happens in the world has a cause. But most people pretend this connection does not exist. If there was ever a week to consider the reality of karma, this is the one.
Let’s check in with some local news and weather — what the Moon is up to today and Tuesday.
The Moon enters its home sign Cancer today just before 2:19 am EST. The Moon’s usual emphasis on home, the maternal and our emotional tides in this sign starts to look like an astrological Baskin Robbins ice cream store; not quite 21 flavors, but close. Shortly after arriving in Cancer, the Moon immediately makes aspects to several planets, indeed, the many planets that are occupying the early degrees of the signs. This is a caution against being emotionally reactive.
Chiron in the first degree of Pisces picks up a flowing trine from the Moon, letting you feel both the emotional tone of the things you need to heal just now, as well as giving access to the creativity you can use to do so. Uranus, in the first degree of Aries (the Aries Point) takes a square aspect from Moon — an unpredictable surge to our inner landscape, precipitating unexpected events and adding fuel to act in the form of tension. Beware of the sensation of emotional instability — let it pass, if it floods into your brain. Part of what you want to guard against is any form of overreacting to what you perceive. Do a little reality check and make sure that you know what you’re talking about before you say anything.
Mars is in early Virgo, still opposite Chiron; it too will take an aspect from the Moon. Sextiles help give us traction, which in this case would be mental and intellectual traction. If you’re starting to feel your feelings run away, tap into the mind level and start reasoning with yourself.
Speaking of sextiles, the Moon simultaneously makes this enabling (in the best sense) angle to retrograde Jupiter in early Taurus. Then it makes an opposition to Pluto — another aspect that could lead nearly anyone to over-react.
In the background of all of this astrology is a grand trine in the earth signs, between Mars, Jupiter and Pluto. Here too is an aspect worth a few moments of care and caution: grand trines can feel like getting caught in a whirlpool. Notice the direction of events. Try to catch the kind of flow that you don’t want early in the game, early in the day or early in the week, and gently use your intuition and clear decisions to set things in the right direction. The operative words here are clear and gently.
Looking for insights on how this week’s astrology affects your personal Sun and rising signs? Try out Planet Waves Light, our streamlined horoscope service. For deeper cultural context and astrological investigation, the premium Planet Waves subscription includes the same horoscopes, plus extensively-researched articles on Fridays.
When I saw Jody Foster describe the other world in this movie I thought for sure she should win an academy award. It was one of the most authentic depictions of humility I have ever seen. Watching her witness that life altering moment when one knows that reality is much more than we can imagine, well, at least for me, is forever etched in my mind.
I don’t know what the hell yesterday was, but it was a ride to say the least.
When we got up this morning [Tuesday] my partner had only one thing to say, he eloquently summed it up: “Don’t try to analyze it.”
We are, indeed, in extreme acceleration. Warp speed and beyond. Small steps across the cosmos.
i posted this last semester i believe, but would like to share again here, plus i also shared with my class tonite, and it seems relevant to the discussion (medicated old models ongoing …).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U
while it may not provide any immediate answers, it addresses solutions that many of us in education are working with/towards. as mentioned, there are services available to college students with learning exceptionalities. i may be a minority but as an educator, i am always grateful when students self-identify (since they’re not required to in college) because it gives me the opportunity to better attend to their individual needs as a learner.
Thanks for the link and reference ef. Double wow. You may as well have written “the Occupy movement is on it’s way. Expect us.” !
As for my troubling familial situation I found your words (below) quite apt:
” also covers the theme of how we react to famous people, and it’s all about intoxicants (from alcohol to Prozac to video games). And the thing about Pholus is that it can unravel several generations of buried or previously encapsulated karma. When Pholus is on the scene, you’re dealing with stuff your grandparents and great grandparents did not deal with, be it family karma or that of society. And we are getting a big blast of this right now. We are dealing with a society that has not been building itself up for the next generations, and which has not been dealing with its problems.”
Both my g/s and Carries daughters seem to be reflecting this. I don’t know the answer. Im worried about these young folks though. Lots of fodder for me to ponder in any case. And so very hard to focus…
Btw I had to look at the date (sept. 2,2011) on Erics article three or four times cuz it seemed like what I was reading had happened YEARS ago, not two and a half months ago! So much being packed into condensed time – we must be traveling at an incredible rate of speed indeed!
Thanks everyone for such great suggestions! All of these sound wonderful and are things I had not even thought of. Bless all of you for being here and for sharing!
Carrie,
Consider looking to Ceres for some clues — nutritional changes often work wonders for ability to focus/learn as well as better mood and patience. Are your daughters eating college food? or are they savvy re: nutrition?
Also, for example and if you are not already on this path (do your research and) consider doing away with certain fruits like bananas and increasing minerals such as Magnesium. Have you tried reducing wheat consumption?
I found a non-special-ed kid inside my son by making changes to his diet years ago.
For what this may be worth for your situation.
Blessings.
xo
Carrie – I’m currently working with kids with various learning disabilities and ADD, the whole gamut. My suggestion would be to have them see if they can find a good counselor (as Amanda put forth), one who deals with academic stress in other words and not academics per se.
Then see if they can dial back slightly on the number of classes, since it seems to be the pace of learning that is proving most distressful right now. Having fewer classes/credits to worry about may be just the ticket to more breathing room and less stress. Ya can’t kill the university dragon in one year anyway…
It sounds like all your girls are feeling each other’s depressive vibes, and that isn’t helping either. Maybe work with them all so that they understand each other better? Something like “family night is counseling night,” and serve chocolate in many forms.
Just my few, underpaid pennies worth. We’re all here for you!
{wiggle wiggle}
“I believe she’s a 1964 Dragon, and a Virgo.”
Ha! Of course she is! And Jodie Foster is a Virgo Moon, conjunct Uranus, opposite Chiron and Jupiter in Pisces. (No shit, really! And a Scorpio Sun… her birthday is this Saturday.) I only know all this because I just looked it up, though I do have a bit of a crush on Dr. Arroway!
I said small steps, but I meant small moves, which is the actual line. An important distinction. Like, maybe you don’t want to take a step, maybe you just want to wiggle your big toe.
Wow, great threads today on all sides and all levels. In the absence of clarity, I guess we’re (okay, I’m) being advise to go for gently, and today has dished out quite a few synchronistic confirmations on that as well, so I’m breathing…and doing nothing until I see the next place to put the proverbial next step. The Salzberg talk was especially timely. Looks like I’ve got some centaur study in my future…and some letting go, gently. All these subtle BIG little things between which we must find our balance. Quite a transit…
Everything connects and life again mirrors astrology clear as a mountain stream. Thank you for the report-in and heads-up.
Be – thanks for mentioning Ceres. Transiting C is holding space halfway between my natal moon and natal sun and opposite my natal Part of Fortune. I believe I should be personally grateful today for her stand there.
xo
I’ve been tracking this since September. Also, check any report involving Virgo for the past two years and you’ll see — Virgo birthdays 2010 or 2011; Mercury retrograde report 2010 or 2011. Here is a subscriber edition that gets the conversation going. If you’re not a subscriber, this is designed to give you a clue how I work the astrology well in advance in that particular content stream.
http://planetwaves.net/astrologynews/1747512255.html
carrie — many (most or all?) colleges have counseling services for students, generally free. have you or your daughters looked into that at their school?
obviously you want to be sure they’re talking to someone who’s good and “gets” them, but it might be helpful to them to have someone to vent to who is not anyone they have to worry about “hurting” — though it sounds like you have a wonderfully open relationship with them.
just a thought…
starrynight3 — hard to say exactly when the aspects “began” per se, given that we often start feeling effects before something is exact. but venus conjoined the great attractor yesterday, if that helps.
Wow. When did the Pholus et.al aspects begin?
Really appreciating this plus everyone’s sharing which helps me see that I am not alone in what does feel like a gathering whirlpool. Hubcap (nickname for husband) and I share quite a few Cancer planets and will need to be especially mindful of our reactions – best to respond, not react!
Last Christmas New Year winter hump a scary situation with a loved young one began, went underground with some strong boundary setting, and has resurfaced the past week, testing our resolve and reopening wounds…truth is we don’t feel safe with him or the elements around him. Heartbreak.
I so relate to all of you. Mystes I so get looking Terror in the eye, so I can “burn back.”
Carrie, what a full plate you have; stewarding these young ones is such a worthy challenge. Small steps, indeed. One at a time. Helps me not to get too far in the future, just to do what’s in front of me to do right NOW. I hate to see our youth so discouraged by the times…they must preservere for we desperately need them to lead us in the near future.
They give Arroway’s birth data in the film, in the scene where she’s brought aboard Hadden’s airplane for her interview. I believe she’s a 1964 Dragon, and a Virgo. I divined the birthtime the first time I did the chart; but I don’t have that data anymore. I once heard a rumor they had an astrologer come up with the chart. Sagan didn’t endorse astrology but he would not sign that crazy petition back in the 1970s.
Huffy, Sharon Salzburg is *awesome!* One of my consorts took a workshop with her a few years ago, and he had very good results. Good link!
Brother Eric, I feel much safer for your guidance, and am ready to pay attention. This is astrology at its practical best, and the centaurs are so damn cool. Thank you for being such an able scout for all of us — I feel blessed.
I think Dr. Arroway is a terrific icon for Mars in Virgo opposite Chiron in Pisces. May we all be as doggedly committed to clarity, especially when a leap of faith is required. It was her Chironic father who advised the small steps, and she never forgot.
Be — “big hairy squares”! I love that. Perhaps an unintentional double entendre. There are a lot of those around, aren’t there? In NYC and DC especially. 🙂
Carrie, have you considered Antioch or another UWW program? (I just found out that Skidmore just closed! booooo!!) If I had it to do all over again, that’s the route I would pursue; and I am offering it to my kiddo as an alternative — if he can manifest the desire/discipline to hack it. Here’s one that might tingle your hairline.
Right now, my kid is looking at the local community college, then possibly California for a sound engineering degree. (He wants to live in an Almodovar movie… “què overdoooose”). He knows that he’ll get room and board while in Texas – after that, it’s his show to figure out.
I know that sounds cold, but I watched a hawk run her young’un off last year. Sat on the edge of my canopy of trees in Austin and saw the whole show (put a terrible cramp in my neck!). The adolescent was keening to return to the home territory, but she just kept moving him to the edge. It was heartbreaking, but necessary.
As for ‘poor’ – you have quality, so what’s the deal with the self-depreciation? There may be comparatively ‘little’ money, but you have enough for a computer, housing and meals. Refocus on what you do with your wealth and it will seem –and BE– more than enough.
Carrie dear, here’s a wonderful talk given by Sharon Salzberg, an amazing Buddhist teacher. But you don’t have to be buddhist to appreciate its wisdom and beauty. It gave me enormous comfort. I hope it will do the same for you. Liz xx
http://www.dharmaseed.org/teacher/165/talk/366/
Eric, et alia…
I got home after a long walk last night, read this post and laughed out loud. Pholus/Merc/Venus on the GA fantastic. It’s my degree of Rising. I had visited the entire cycle of reaction/vendetta/reconsideration during the walk as I contemplated my two nemesis (nemesoi?), and what to do about them.
One is, fortunately, dying — but her effects will continue through her two offspring, one of whom can perhaps be deprogrammed. The other has stolen an important object of mine — I created the thing, so there is no question about its ownership or the *extreme* violation of his having stolen it. No, there is no ‘letting go’ of this one, it isn’t just a material object, but a magickal one, and the work I am to do with it is being stymied by this theft.
It’s Scorpio, people. Time to break out the bonedance, you know. These are difficult and dark questions to deal with, and as I negotiate them, I don’t seem like a “nice person.” But when the Terror comes, I can look it in the eye and burn back. Lovingly.
Thank goddess for Pholus on the GA. It shows my enemies that I mean business, with nothing more than the raising of an eyebrow. And that, my finehearts, is a Good Thing.
***
**
*
I think I can make it through the day now, thanks to the road-map provided here. Also the notion that what we do matters and has consequences, and that some thought (if not a lot of thought) should go into what that could turn out to be. Much appreciated!
I’m just loving the little vigintile aspect between Neptune and Ceres these days. It’s so tiny it’s almost cute. You would hardly think it could affect much, what with all the big hairy squares and oppositions, etc. going on. Yet, last night just before the Moon left Gemini for Cancer, she trined Neptune at one end of the vigintile, has gone on to making aspects with all the planets and centaurs whose patterns you spoke of, and will go on to trine Ceres tomorrow by noon. I feel like she’s giving us all a big hug to remind us we are one big family, no matter what our differences are, and that is something to keep in mind as well as in heart.
A vigintile (18 degrees) between any two astro bodies will operate in subtle, repetitive ways, utilizing intuitive and mystical forces. This can produce unexpected events (hello centaurs!) that can lead us down the karmic path of destiny. So by all (or any) means, remember awareness, mindfulness, paying attention and focusing. That small thing you’re about to do could make you famous (or infamous!)
be
Wow. This is so happening in our house this weekend and week. My three daughters are attending college and all of them are questioning their choice to do so. The extrovert, Ayanna, is the most responsible one but though she works the hardest, she has a learning disability that is not easily seen (her smart personality sparkles so much) but it drags her down. She has expressed that she is feeling depressed, anxious, wants me to not continue school after I graduate this December (because then I would be more available to my son’s and everyone else’s needs) and feels overwhelmed by her inability to “get on with her life.” She is 19 and depressed already.
I want to figure out (with her) how to help but I haven’t a clue where to start. If I ask anyone else, I will get the standard line about how college is the best thing and she can get help with her disability. The problem is, I have seen the so-called accommodations for disabled learners and hers is a hard to see and not recognized disability so the things offered won’t help. She learns slower than average and is ADD on top of that. It is a documented processing problem in her brain that cannot be medicated. Yet she cannot drive yet (we haven’t had the time to teach her and she is having difficulty memorizing the drivers manual in order to pass the test).
So she is depressed, feeling terrible about herself, and in need of some serious help in deciding what to do next. Getting a job would be very difficult due to lack of available jobs and lack of transportation plus lack of experience.
Then there’s two other sisters, Natasha (Ayanna’s twin who is an introvert with ADD) and Kiara (the youngest at 16 and who is a Gifted learner) who are also feeling overwhelmed by the college’s demands, busy work, and the feeling that they are going to do all the work but have no job to show for it afterward. All three feel pressure to help bring in money to the family because we are poor and they all want me to stop after getting my bachelor’s degree this December so I can homeschool their brother who also is ADD and doesn’t do well in our American, downward-pressed curriculum that is rushed and hurried. Me stopping school means the loss of the student loans which have helped support the family.
I wish I could find someone who thinks out of the box, someone who can help them figure out whether they should continue in college, take only half the classes instead of four, or what to do to help them navigate this difficult time in their lives. They are all hard workers, willing to do whatever they can for themselves and the family and their little brother but they are all feeling overwhelmed (and their classmates are expressing the same feelings of overwhelm, futility because of the economy and lack of prospects, and general depression).
This all came to a head yesterday because Ayanna has been treating her little brother badly lately and he said he is feeling like her verbal punching bag. She doesn’t want to hurt him so she finally realized she is depressed and angry.
::::sigh:::: Parenting is so HARD when outside bullshit is so harmful to the kids and not pro-family. I am smart but I don’t know everything and DH and I don’t have all the answers. Being poor doesn’t help.
Sorry to vent here but I feel like everyone at PW thinks out of the box and won’t try to tell me the standard “psychology du jour” or advice du jour.
Despite knowing a bit about astrology and having read their charts, I get cross-eyed when I try to figure out what I should be doing that would be helpful to them. I cannot afford therapy (and though medicaid would pay for some therapy, I have no time to do it right now but will after I graduate) and I cannot afford astrology readings for them either. ::::sigh:::
This, too, shall pass. Small baby steps…I will try that. Thanks so much PW for being here! I wish I could give back for the many, many times you have all helped me.
Gotta hand it to ya’, fingering Pholus not only connects a lot of dots on the chart, it also explains a lot about actual events. Small, conscious, well-considered moves may go against our conditioning, but they do add up. One small step for astrology, one great blog for Planet Waves. Thank you.
I am with you Burning River. zzzzzzzzzz
A wonderfully comprehensive write-up.thank you PW’rs.
Change ! YAY ! pad and protect my personal space with an impenetrable bubble of serene and let the universe unfold as it should. Got it ! Thanks 😉
WOW … am I feeling this.
This insight and guidance really helps.
Thank you!
Thank you for a wonderfully in-depth and insightful explanation of today’s aspects. My confusion is lifting, and I will go forward clearly and gently 🙂
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I just got slammed HARD by a tsunami of negative emotions and fear. It was nearly unbearable. I prayed for help…some sort of clarity… some shred of understanding… an hour or so later I read your incredibly profound and prescient posting…and I see now what is going on. All of these aspects mentioned are hitting my chart with terrible, precise accuracy. Knowing what is coming up helps me to see what I need to do but more importantly, HOW to be on the inside as I try to move forward out of the whirlpool of darkness that I know is not real…yet it feels real.
Your wisdom and warnings help more than you know… thank you thank you.
This is so precious. Thank you so much.
I think I had best sleep through next week.