Leo Sun, Scorpio Moon and Nessus in Aquarius

The Moon passed first quarter yesterday — we are now a week from a lunar eclipse. As we have been reporting this would be the third eclipse in a month; and the second lunar eclipse. Currently the Moon is in Scorpio, at this moment crossing the midpoint of that sign. This puts the Moon square Nessus in Aquarius — remember that this eclipse is conjunct Nessus so we are, and will be, exploring that energy for a while.

To sum up, on the most basic level of the functioning of relationships and society, Nessus is about what a bunch of treacherous little shits we can be, if and when we feel like it, or when we have a lapse of attention. There is a healing dimension: we get sick of it, the battle gets exhausting, we work out the karma or we get shot in the ass by our own poisoned arrows one too many times and get the idea that perhaps there is a better way to do things. Nessus can get someone to change their ways.

Nessus operates in two modes: when you understand karma and when you do not; or let’s say, since nobody really understands karma, when you are sensitive to it, and when you are not. Let’s contrast to Pholus, which is “small cause, big effect” — it has an inadvertent quality. Nessus operates by design. There is a plan; it may include revenge, or an intentional transgression; more often Nessus hangs out in that hazy area of what is potentially inappropriate. The plan may or may not work well; but one way or another there will be an effect.

With Pholus one is generally clueless or curious; Nessus takes us into the land of hazy ethics, side deals and secret deals: the stuff we think nobody is gonna find out about. It’s also about the kind of abuse you cannot easily see; it’s in the realm of supposedly normal behavior.

Nessus invokes the question of how we act when we think there might be consequences; when we don’t think there will be; and when we ignore the issue entirely. If you want to know why Nessus shows up so often around situations involving sex abuse, it’s because this is precisely how we handle not just sex abuse but most aspects of sex. What is not said is usually more important than what is said; and as for what is not said, we night well investigate the reasons. They will be telling.

Today we have a Nessus aspect with the Moon in Scorpio; that highlights sexual truths and what we say and don’t say about our sexual history. When the eclipse happens in a week the Moon will be eclipsed in Aquarius, which brings the story to the social/cultural level. This eclipse is about how we react to all the pressures exerted on us by our peers, by advertising, by vague and unspoken cultural rules: all the stuff that tortures us but which we rarely name and nary have a clue how to deal with.

How is a good question. Generally one does not do anything until one’s vital force exceeds the level where it’s comfortable to be held down. And that, unfortunately, is generally never. The most frequent approach to the whole issue is a mix of deception and anesthesia: apropos of the dark Neptune vibe of Nessus. The reason we generally get stuck with it is not just because we’re usually unwilling to do something about it, but because it’s a kind of indulgence. Hypocrisy is a drug.