Sun+Moon Forever

By Len Wallick

Yesterday was the total solar eclipse. That closed the cycle that started with the partial lunar eclipse and concurrent grand cardinal cross on June 26. It also closed another cycle dating back to late 2009, and picked up on a 19 year cycle dating to 1992. Eclipses are potent events with many implications.

Today, we are on the other side of where we went in. We are in different territory than we were just two weeks ago, having crossed through a long stretch of time to get there. In order to get our bearings it is proposed that we start from the general and work through to what is specific for today.

Not so long ago the day after a total eclipse would have been an opportunity for a letdown. Not so anymore. What would once have been a peak, a highlight, is now integrated as yet another elevation in the angle of a continuous astrological ascent that gets steeper and steeper.

That is not to say that yesterday’s exact exact Sun-Moon conjunction is chopped liver. Unlike planetary conjunctions, an eclipse is not an ephemeral event. Rather, there is a quality of sustained influence at the degree of occurrence that persists for nearly two decades. It as if the Sun and Moon, as lovers, paused to carve their initials in the 20th degree of the sign of Cancer.

As would seem fitting, the primary objective of today’s blog is to follow up on the Sun and Moon as they move on from the degree of their conjunction. But first, a look at the big picture into which this most recent eclipse cycle has been assimilated.

We are more than two years into a continuum known as the cardinal t-square that will be the better part of a decade in duration. Pluto started it and will be there at the end. It is currently retrograde in the fourth degree of Capricorn. Saturn is in the last degree of Virgo, on its way back to Libra for the second time. Uranus is on the Aries point in retrograde back towards Pisces for a last huzzah. Jupiter is still direct in the fourth degree of Aries, within arc minutes of an exact square to Pluto.

Everything else that is happening, in an astrological sense, is an informing part of this t-square. It would not be too much of a stretch to say everything else, period. For this grand aspect is occurring precisely during a period of precipitous events taking place in rapid succession. What these events have in common is that they are functioning to change the relationship between human beings and the planet on which we live. Evolution with intent and awareness has become a necessity. From all indications, it will be messy.

Over the weekend and before the eclipse Venus and Mercury changed signs. Today, Mercury is already in the sixth degree of Leo. Venus is currently in the third degree of Virgo. These transitions are beginning a new chapter in the story of the t-square.

You would not be able to tell Mercury slowing down by the fact that it will ingress Virgo in about two weeks. Once there it will form a trine to Pluto before the end of July and proceed to station retrograde at a degree sextile to yesterday’s eclipse (where Mars is today) at the end of August’s third week. Venus meanwhile is chasing Mars down. This ardent pursuit will bring both planets into the t-square as they enter Libra a week apart. Finally, Venus will catch up and they will be conjoined on the same day Mercury stations retrograde.

That pretty much catches us up with the big picture. Now for a look at the Sun and Moon on the day after their titanic tryst.

Taking a cue from Eric’s Friday edition, the just-concluded eclipse cycle took place along the relationship axis of the opposing signs, Cancer and Capricorn. Whether viewed as the fourth and tenth house (in the western zodiac of common use) or the first and seventh (as in the Thema Mundi prototype of ancient Greece), the Cancer-Capricorn axis is among the most emotionally charged.

As the luminary most closely associated with the emotional, the Moon’s day of Monday should give us a pretty darned good idea of where on the other side of the rabbit hole we are as compared to the last full week of June. Luna starts off our Monday by making ingress to Leo. As has been observed by several of our blog commenters (most notably, Barbara Koehler, aka “be”) the first degree of Leo has taken on quite an identity of its own.

While in the process of slowing down, stationing direct and moving forward again earlier this year, Mars spent just over three weeks in that single degree. That lengthy tenure seems to have either invested or awakened a precipitous quality. Things happen decisively when this degree is occupied or aspected. The fact that it is in trine to Uranus on the Aries point probably has something to do with it, but the mark of Mars is unmistakable.

On the other end of today, the Moon moves on from the first degree of Leo to catch up and conjoin with Mercury. If there is anything to synchronicity, the emotions that came up during the eclipse yesterday and precipitated during the Leo ingress this morning should find their apt and eloquent expression with this conjunction. But first, one would like to know: Are you kind? And what of the Sun? Ah, like many things having to do with relationships, it’s complicated —  at least on the surface. We shall attempt to make it as short and simple as possible.

Remember what a yod is? Two points, usually planets, in sextile (60 degrees of separation) that have one other thing in common. That being that they are each separated from a third point by 150 degrees, forming two quincunx aspects. The result is three points in aspect forming the shape of a “Y”. The commonly observed orb of influence is one degree or less. Hence, yods are usually rare, short-lived and powerful. The focus is on the point in dual quincunx. There is found the pressure and the need for adjustment.

Remember the yod last Thursday before the eclipse? Well, today we have three. How do we make that simple? We start with the fact that all three involve the Sun. Remember the sextile between the Sun and Mars last week? Still there. No kidding, the greater luminary and the lesser malefic still flying in formation, 60 degrees apart to the degree and it will continue until Wednesday. That forms the base of the first yod.

With Sun in Cancer and Mars in Virgo, the apex of the yod would be the twenty-first degree of Aquarius and what do we find there but the asteroid Damocles. For those of you not familiar with the legend, here’s a quickie. Damocles was a young man who fancied himself knowledgeable of kingly things. To teach him a lesson the king traded places with him for a day. While Damocles was enjoying a banquet in his honor he looked up to see a sword hanging directly above his head, suspended by a single hair. Back to that in a few paragraphs.

On the other side of Mars in Virgo, 60 degrees away from the Cancer, in the sign of Taurus is the Centaur planet, Asbolus. On the pointy end of their dual quincunx is the minor planet, Quaoar in Sagittarius. That’s the second Sun yod of three, exact today.

Finally, since Quaoar and Damocles are in a Sagittarius-to-Aquarius sextile, the Sun in Cancer constitutes the apex of their third yod. All three in day, all exact to the degree.

So, how to pull all this together? First is the premise that the Sun, like the Moon, is invested with the energy of an eclipse having the theme of relationship. Next, the idea that eclipses work on three levels, the personal, the collective and where they intersect. Relationship with self. Relationships in society. Relationship between self and society. Finally, the fact that in real life, relationships are complicated.

It’s easy to write books, construct high-falutin’ theories and make a good living running personal growth workshops based on a dyadic model. In fact, however, when you are in relationship with someone, you are in relationship with everyone that person remembers interacting with, whether it be the parent of many years ago or the store clerk a few hours ago. Heck, even in relationship with self there are dominant and sub-dominant personalities at our inner conference table. It’s important to be aware of that.

The Sun-Mars sextile aspecting Damocles in the sign of the collective is a perfect example of the perils of relating to the collective with an if-I-ruled-the-world attitude. Like maybe shiny shoes, creased trousers, capitalism and your religion of choice are not for everybody. Even the best intentions can’t be force-fed en masse without inspiring resistance.

Having the Sun in sextile to the intuitive Asbolus raises almost the same issue when aspecting Quaoar (named after the Native American deity that sang and danced the world into existence). No matter how strong your gut feeling is and how aligned with your higher self it may be, it’s important to remember that the informed intuition of others may not be on the same page.

Finally having the Sun quincunxed by Quaoar and Damocles is one of those worst-nightmare scenarios that says “the shoe is on the other foot now, buddy, how do you like that?”.

So for the Sun, the first day on the other side is very much the same as for the Moon. The best and easiest rule of relationship is plain and simple kindness. Restrain from asserting yourself, even with the best intent. Refrain from confiding what you think you know. Constrain yourself and only yourself until you know where you are and what you are dealing with. Then and only then make adjustment — starting with yourself.

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