As Time Goes By

By Len Wallick

“Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.”
– Humphrey Bogart – from the motion picture ‘Casablanca’

Yesterday’s blog set the theme. The daily, ephemeral aspects and transits are informing us as we proceed through the co-incidence of two continuous, long-term astrological phenomena.

One of the continuums is the current eclipse cycle. Eclipses tend to take place in pairs. One at the Full Moon, called a lunar eclipse, so called because Earth is in between, blocking the light of the Sun, turning the bright silver orb a dusky red. The other half of the pair takes place at the New Moon. It is the solar eclipse. This time Luna is the pickle in the middle. It will more or less block the Sun from our view. There are about two weeks in between. It can be said to be a space and time out of space-time. Events go in one side and come out in a very different form in a very different place on the other. Hence it can be said to be a continuum.

The other continuous phenomena is the years-long cardinal t-square. A dance of Pluto, Saturn, Uranus and Jupiter crossing back and forth over the first degrees of the cardinal signs Capricorn, Libra and Aries, respectively.

The intersection of the two continuums was quite literal last weekend when the opposition of the Sun and Moon superimposed on the t-square, transforming it into a grand cardinal cross. Although the Moon has moved on, the Sun’s current placement means the grand cardinal cross is still functional even as you read this.

Yesterday’s informing ephemera included Mars’ aspect to the lunar nodes and the conjunction of Sun and Mercury in opposition to Pluto. The operative words were action, integration and relationship. By way of selecting today’s key aspect, let’s look ahead to the geography of the total solar eclipse that will take place on July 11.

Lunar eclipses last for hours. Therefore, they can be seen over a large portion of the earth. Solar eclipses, especially total solar eclipses, last for minutes. They are viewable over a much narrower and shorter piece of real estate, for a much shorter period of time than their counterpart.

This particular conjunction of the Sun and Moon will indeed be a total eclipse. Its duration will be just over five minutes. It will be visible within a narrow corridor traversing the South Pacific Ocean. The entire path will be over water except for two islands. One of them will be that place commonly referred to as Easter Island, so named because the first recorded European visitor encountered it on Easter Sunday in 1722.

Hmmm… What are the odds of that? Of all the solid land in all the world for this particular total solar eclipse, at this uncertain time, to cast its auspicious shadow…well….how do you feel about synchronicity now? Easter Island, as you may recall, is the place with the monumental statues, nearly 900 of them. With their big heads, heavy brows and long noses these moai, as they are known, are unique, unmistakable, and unforgettable. They seem to speak to and be a part of the human unconscious no matter who you are or where you come from. Their archetype resonates with a familiarity akin to that of the dinosaur.

Fittingly, this place, also known as Rapa Nui or Isla de Pascua, has also become a conscious prototype of living beyond our environmental means and the consequences of doing so — extinction. Although the actual history is complex, it is clear that deforestation, over-population and conflict produced considerable hardship even before outsiders brought the diseases and abduction into slavery that nearly finished off the first citizens.

So what does this have to do with astrology?

Well it so happens that our solar system has a resonant connection, the dwarf planet Makemake. Named after the chief creator god of the Rapa Nui people because it was discovered precisely 283 years after the island was. Interestingly, that’s almost exactly the period of time it takes for Pluto to go around the Sun. In its discovery chart the waning Sagittarius Moon was applying to conjoin Pluto. Like Pluto, it is located on an outlying area of the solar system know as the Kuiper Belt.

There’s one other plutonian connection. Today Makemake, at nearly 25 degrees Virgo, is in a tight square (90 degrees) to its natal Pluto at 24.5 degrees Sagittarius. Also happens that spot is occupied today (to the degree) by another of the dwarf planets, Ceres. Whoa. Makemake square its natal Pluto. Ceres conjunct Makemake’s natal Pluto. Makemake square Ceres. Whoa. Let’s look at the astrology of those three.

The developing astrological interpretation of Makemake builds upon both the plutonian connection and the culture from which its name is derived. It is associated with karma, but not as an outcome but rather the process leading up to it. In other words, exactly how did things get to be the way they are?

Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt, is named after the Roman equivalent of the Greek goddess Demeter. In both cases relating to what we would colloquially refer to as Mother Earth. The arbiter of the seasons, the source or nourishment, the wise use of resources, sustaining through cycles.

Pluto, well, is of course the superficial level of death, taxes, sex and private things that are rarely discussed in public. But there is also the deeper layer of compelled transformation and mandatory metamorphosis in the dark.

The square aspect between Makemake and Ceres implies the imperative to act and thus relates it with the continuous t-square and separating grand cross on the cardinal points. The plutonian cachet common to both takes it from implicit to explicit and adds an urgency of life or death. The mutable nature of Virgo and Sagittarius clearly indicates that the urgent action necessary is the formation of a new paradigm.

How the square of Ceres with Makemake connects with the other continuum, the eclipse cycle is different but no less direct. Both planets resonate with the ambiance of the sign in which the solar eclipse will take place. Cancer’s fourth house qualities of comfort and nourishment as well as its cardinal connection with the change of seasons segue with Ceres perfectly. Cancer’s association with the inherited past and the south node’s knowledge of its consequences relate with Makemake.

So, now that we have broken it down, let’s pull it together.

We bridge forward from yesterday’s watchword of action with a new urgency. Facing the need to resolve an acute tension between what we have done to place the Earth (and our own survival) in peril and what will sustain it, is informed by the powerful message that we have no choice.

There is also reason for hope. Of all the islands in all the oceans in all the world so long in one place, that this one should be crossed at this time by this particular rare and fleeting shadow carries a message for us. Our dearest attachment to the past has returned. It has come to transform that attachment into intent and in doing so, our relationship changes from that which would hold us back. Integrating that intent with a greater cause and giving us a chance to move forward with renewed purpose can help us believe that even in the midst of peril and uncertainty, this could be the beginning of something beautiful.

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