The Inner Conspiracy: and the Intuitive Solution

Dear Friend and Reader:

The Moon is in early Pisces and the early Aquarius Sun will be working its way over the true North Node today, both reminders of the recent solar eclipse, the effects of which are still reverberating through the ethers. Personally I am picking up a lot of good vibes and potential.

Mercury is conjunct Sisyphus today, which is a reminder not to push too hard on mental work or communication that is simply not happening, or where the effort seems to be not worth the work. You will know if you keep going uphill and you get nowhere. Usually when communication just doesn’t seem to be happening, there is a motive involved; perhaps your own, perhaps that of someone else. Maybe ask what would happen if the message did go through. The key concepts inside Sisyphus is repetition of activity; and unrewarding.

Another aspect repeats this theme: Apollo (which also addresses the idea of repetition, only of things that keep failing) conjunct Ixion (a Pluto-like planet with the theme of amorality). There is something here about how repeated failures may have an amoral quality. Ixion is the figure from Greek myth who kills his son and then tries to rape the Queen of the Gods. He squanders his second chance. My key phrase for Ixion is anyone is capable of anything.

It’s interesting: there are two conjunctions today involving murderers. Sisyphus, to which Mercury is conjunct, was also a killer, and one who foolishly provoked the power of more powerful entities. And like Ixion, he is one who violates agreements and/or contracts and must suffer the consequences. Ixion and Sisyphys are related because both are plotters and schemers, and in ways not designed to make the world a better place.

Picking up the theme of a plot — and perhaps calling the tune — Venus is square Arachne, one of the most interesting asteroids I’ve worked with. Arachne is a mortal who was turned into a spider, in the cycle of myths involving weaving of stories, and of the universe. There is a morality play in her relationship with Minerva, which again involves challenging one of the gods and thinking oneself better; I will skip the story, but Minerva turned her to a spider. Arachne has the characteristics of a conspiracy of web of intrigue, and Venus comes in for a square today, as if she’s caught in the web — or as if the conspiracy is becoming a conscious thing, as squares are given to us to do.

When Arachne is present in a tight aspect, look for the sense of a plot, paranoia surrounding one, or the simple fact that many different things are connected. Square Venus, this is an image that internally many different threads of our story (of love, of desire, of sex, of what we need) are closely related, interwoven, and sensing the same vibrations: just like a spider feels a vibration far across her web. We often seem to be caught in our own internal webs of deceit, the stories we tell one another, and the stories of others into which we get ensnared. But mostly they are the stories we tell ourselves.

Mercury, meanwhile, is now slow and powerful, working toward a station-direct in Capricorn, which occurs Feb. 1. That can feel like being trapped in a pile of old ideas. One interesting fact about the chart for Mercury stationing direct is that it goes back to 21+ Capricorn, nearly but not quite making aspects to Eris (at 20+ Aries), Saturn (at 20+ Virgo), Chiron (at 20+ Aquarius) and Uranus (at 20+ Pisces). This may seem frustrating.

Notably, the Aries Moon will be exactly square Mercury (both at 21+ cardinal signs). The solution to whatever conspiracy we are working to solve is something we need to reach for intuitively, rather than cognitively.