Yesterday we briefly mentioned that there’s a conjunction happening, between the mighty planet Mercury and a new little world called 1992 QB1, orbiting in the Kuiper Belt just beyond Pluto. Over the years I’ve been developing the theme of the Thresholder associated with this planet: one who helps others move into a new phase of their lives, or cross a boundary of some kind.
I include among these people midwives, those who assist others in the dying process, certain highly conscious sexworkers, sex therapists, ‘tantric’ teachers and orgasm coaches. There are therapists, astrologers and others who work with people in talk process I know who would qualify for this distinction — of holding space and providing some form of guidance or example to facilitate actual transition in the lives of those whom they serve.
QB1 remains an unnamed planet; despite having a minor planet catalog number (15760), it still has its provisional name. Every new discovery gets one of those tags with the year and phase of the year when the discovery happened (Chiron’s was 1977 UB), though once their orbit is confirmed and they are given catalog numbers, many of these discoveries are named sooner rather than later. It’s unusual that QB1 has no mythological baggage.
This is particularly true given that it holds such a truly special place in astronomy — it was the first orbiting body discovered beyond Pluto, and as such, it was scientific evidence of the existence of a vast field of space where many such planets exist. There are now hundreds known; you’ve heard of many here: Varuna, Quaoar, Eris, Salacia, Logos.
QB1 helped us cross the threshold of seeming death (as defined by Pluto), and moreover, the thought form of death, opening a new dimension of what is possible when we go beyond this tired old idea that whoever kills the most people wins the game and gets the biggest appropriation from Congress. This is an idea that has driven modern society for many decades, and which still has countless millions of people wrapped around its ugly finger.
That finger gestures in more than death threats. It stalks sexual pleasure with obliteration by guilt. It is a constant menace to the eminently natural experience of childbirth, terrorizing midwives and doulas, cutting off their funds (by using the insurance system as a weapon against them many different ways) and forcing people to be born into cold, hostile places, ushered by scalpels and forceps rather than by loving hands.