Monthly Archives: February 2012

We’ve been through a week of exemplary astrology — really beautiful stuff: the Jupiter-Chiron sextile, which Mercury comes dancing through; the signs Taurus and Pisces involved; and Jupiter sitting right on the discovery degree of Chiron. I’ve long associated Chiron with environmental issues and the healing of the Earth. And we’re seeing a surge of activism as Uranus square Pluto — the 2012 aspect — approaches its first exact contact (of seven) in June. As part of that, many more people are going to wake up to taking care of the planet, even in the midst of our lavish, plastic-strewn lifestyles.

It's not an aspect -- it's dioxin, the most toxic chemical. To be precise, it's 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-para-dioxin, or 2,3,7,8 TCDD for short. Note the distinctive, extremely stable double benzene ring, the bonded-on chlorine and the two oxygen molecules that make it flat and therefore deadly. If it was an aspect it would be a grand sextile -- note the six-sided shape of the benzene ring. That's why dioxin is so persistent. Benzene rings last a long time.

Environmental toxins issues move so slowly and against such odds it’s amazing they get anywhere, ever. But occasionally they do. The standout event today was the EPA finally, after some 20 years, releasing its reassessment of the toxicity of dioxin.

This study — really, a review of every known study — has been brewing since the 1990s, which cannot have been 20 years ago but it was, amidst truly incredible scandals.

Those astonishing scandals (hardly the first in history; the story of dioxin is the story of nonstop coverups) were so successful at obfuscating the issues that I’ve only seen dioxin covered (or even mentioned) on television about three or four times in all of those 20 years, when really it’s so significant it should be discussed every night.

Dioxin is bad for fetuses. It’s bad for the female and male reproductive systems. It’s bad for any animal (plants don’t seem to mind it, but then animals eat the plants).

How bad is bad? So bad you’re not supposed to know about it. Let’s see if I can get the backstory into one paragraph. In the early 1990s, the paper industry wanted to cover up the growing awareness of the extreme, as in ridiculous, toxicity of dioxin. So they commissioned a reassessment of that toxicity by the EPA, figuring that they could run their coverup from there. But as the data started coming in, it was damning. Dioxin was far worse than they thought, it affected more organ systems at lower levels and more was in the environment than they suspected. The reassessment ran out of control and became the international headquarters for proving how bad the stuff really is. That was largely thanks to two scientists: Dr. William Farland and Dr. Cate Jenkins, two people who actually understood the problem and were not afraid to confront it.

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One question we can ask about the past few weeks that the Sun has been in Aquarius is, have you learned to play as part of a team without losing your individuality? That’s one of the central questions of Aquarius, and it’s worth asking when there’s activity in this sign. On Sunday at 1:17 am EST, the Sun transitions from Aquarius to Pisces — then the Pisces New Moon follows on Tuesday. The Sun joins many planets already in Pisces, and will make conjunctions to many of them over the next week or so. For one, the Sun immediately meets up with Neptune — the first Sun-Neptune conjunction in Pisces in nearly 150 years. Then the Sun will light up Chiron and Pallas, also in Pisces.

Positions of the planets at the time of the Sun's ingress into Pisces. Note that the Sun is exactly conjunct Neptune in Pisces for the first time in nearly 150 years.

But we’re a bit ahead of ourselves here, as the Sun will be in Aquarius two more days and will be making some interesting moves during that short time. First, it will trine retrograde Saturn (the traditional ruler of Aquarius) in Libra. That’s a lot of emphasis on Saturn energy, since Saturn has strong dignity in both Libra (where it is) and Aquarius (where the Sun is). What’s interesting about the setup is how close Saturn is to the edge of its sign (in the very last degree, retrograde) and the Sun will be in the last degree of Aquarius, moving forward. It’s the picture of some kind of unusual or unlikely experience on the edge.

On the edge of what? Well, what’s edgy or in transition in your life? This setup describes the potential to stabilize relationship situations, work out elements of structure and negotiate the next stage of a situation. There’s a meeting of an individual (the Sun), a partnership (Saturn in Libra) and a group (Aquarius).

There’s one more point in the setup — an odd, rarely-used hypothetical called Transpluto. Think of it as an imaginary planet that has a real effect. It moves extremely slowly and was discovered in the 1930s. Sun opposite Transpluto may feel like moving through a narrow opening with a kind of expert precision. Of course if the way is narrow, then precision is a good thing, so we can be glad both these aspects are happening at once. The precision involves what is known about a situation, or rather, what comes out. It looks like one party to the situation is handling the confidential knowledge of someone else, information they don’t necessarily feel comfortable having revealed.

The Sun late in a sign can arrive with unusual events, so watch for them and stay open. The window of opportunity may seem too narrow for passage, though the more open you are, and the clearer you are, the the better you’ll be able to handle whatever this is describing. Go through the opening consciously, taking one step at a time. Imagine the planets moving in extra-slow motion as the Sun slips through the last degree of Aquarius, moving toward Pisces. There’s significant support coming from that sign, in the form of the Jupiter-Chiron-Mercury setup we’ve been describing for a few days.

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In today’s spectacular Welcome Back edition of Planet Waves FM, Rick Santorum appears to explain himself. Rick is a product of the centaur planets Chiron and Nessus, which you can see in the chart below are conjunct his Moon and Sun respectively.

Rick Santorum's little slice of heaven.

Before I get into that, however, I describe the current Pisces sky with the Sun in late Aquarius. Charts are posted in the few blog posts below; not only are there currently many planets in Pisces, there is also a spectacular alignment today that I describe. That’s Mercury conjunct Chiron and sextile Jupiter — which bridges Pisces to Taurus and is just about as perfect of an expression as you can get of blending these energies — earth and water, mind and knowledge, the misty light of Pisces with the focusing agent of Chiron. I won’t say much more here — the audio tells you most of what you’ll want to know and I can reply to your queries here.

Now as for Mr. Santorum. Here’s the page of quotes that I’m reading from a bit clumsily; and here is what happens when you do a Google search for his name.

The chart is a noon chart as his time isn’t published yet. I focus on the Sun and the Moon. The Sun is conjunct Nessus; the Moon is conjunct Chiron. You may recognize Venus and Mars without needing a glyph key — they match the symbols on the bathroom doors in restaurants. The upshot is that Santorum is inheriting a raft of pain and a kind of infection from his parents; he’s a sensualist who doesn’t want to admit it; and worst of all he is at war with his feminine side, which he then projects into a war onto women. He needs therapy, not the opportunity to inflict his personal pain on society.

This and more in today’s edition of Planet Waves FM. Listen in the old player here.

Note to Readers: Len Wallick’s astrology updates right below this post.

There are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – there are things we do not know we don’t know. — Donald Rumsfeld, U.S. Secretary of Defense

Right now one of the clearest messages in they sky is: How much do you trust yourself – your intuition, your abilities, your desires? We see this in the conjunction of Mercury and Chiron, which is exact today.

Mercury conjunct Chiron will help us see the unknown unknowns.

There are several takes on Mercury-Chiron aspects, of which the conjunction is the most potent. You can think of Mercury-Chiron as being the quiet kid in the class, who didn’t have much to say but who turned out to be a chess grand master. Or the dyslexic kid who turned out to be an amazing artist. Or the one who could not pass a test, especially a spelling test, who turned out to be a gifted writer. In Pisces, this is particularly the image of intuitive knowledge, with a touch of savant quality. But this knowledge has a source, and it can be verified.

Another take comes from Barbara Hand Clow, in her book Chiron: Rainbow Bridge, who notes that any aspect between Chiron and Mercury “Balances right and left brain perceptual skill and quickens the deeper levels of the mind.” Pisces is all about the balancing of opposites, so this holds true — especially when you remember that both Mercury and Chiron are associated with Virgo. In Pisces, you may not be able to follow the logic — not at first, but if you do, you might learn a whole new kind of logic that adds a dimension or two. Clow adds that with the conjunction, there is a “superlative ability to perceive exactly what is going on in any situation and to understand how people are thinking in relation to the situation.”

Pay attention to what you perceive and what you’re thinking, because good information will be available if you do. The Mercury-Chiron conjunction is supported by the sextile to Jupiter (traditional ruler of Pisces, which brings in even more mojo), which we covered yesterday. Now, both Chiron and Mercury are picking up on the knowledge base contained in Jupiter, which has a practical aspect in that Jupiter is in Taurus.

The catch is you have to trust yourself. You have to trust that inner voice that would guide you if you’d let it. Trust that if you have come to this moment, then you must also have the ability to bring ‘it’ into the world (whatever ‘it’ is for you) in tangible form and embody it.

Referring to that quote by Don Rumsfeld above, think of Mercury, Chiron and Pisces working together as being a way to find about some of the “unknown unknowns.” We all have a little extra ability to see around the corners and into the blind spots right now.

At the moment, the Sun is going through the last degrees of Aquarius, about to enter Pisces on Sunday. Before it does, it will make a trine to Saturn in Libra and an opposition to an odd point called Transpluto. That’s like going through a very narrow opening with precision — a point we’ll come back to tomorrow.

I just cast a horary chart for a client and noticed that Venus square Pluto is exact. This is Venus in Aries square Pluto in Capricorn, which could add a sense of urgency and intensity to the day. This aspect can also have a sense of finality and emotional push. I think this is what Jonathan Cainer is talking about when he writes in today’s Pisces horoscope, “It’s easy now, for someone to get carried away with enthusiasm for a plan or proposition that sounds exciting but is really nothing so special. Watch for that. Be similarly suspicious of hyperbole about an apparent threat. Ultimately, it matters less than you think.”