Into the Fourth Quarter

By Len Wallick

Hopefully your local weather provided the opportunity to get out under the night sky this week. We hope you will make a habit of it as we in turn offer encouragement and tips regarding what to look for and where to find it. The idea is for you to form your own relationship with the luminaries, planets, stars and constellations, then pass that information on to your friends, family, lovers and most importantly to children.

In his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury writes of a world where burning books is considered an entirely proper and normal way to preserve the established order. There are even a class of civil servants, ironically called firemen, whose job it is to find books and burn them. However, there exists a secret society of people that seeks to protect and preserve the most important tomes by committing them to memory and passing them on.

Your humble servant suggests you consider the possibility that our personal contact with the cosmos, taken for granted over thousands, if not millions of years, may be at risk just as the books in the fictional story. Perhaps there is no intent, no conspiracy. One would hope. The lifestyle, air and light pollution that keeps us from knowing the sky as our ancestors did may simply be inadvertent, but the consequences are the same, leaving us without important knowledge. One could do far worse than to learn the Moon by heart.

We can start by what you may have seen if you were up late enough last night. Yesterday the Moon reached the last quarter. That means the halfway point between the Full Moon and the New Moon. As you will recall, the Full Moon is an opposition between Sol and Luna with us here on Earth sitting between them, like an audience in a movie theater between the projector and the screen. The New Moon on the other hand has Luna as the pickle in the middle. Which is why we can’t see it — the Sun is shining on the other side. That’s a conjunction of the two luminaries.

So if full is an opposition and new is a conjunction, what’s in between? That’s right, a square. The luminaries are at right angles to each other from our perspective. It even looks the part with Luna’s full visage cut squarely in two.

For a lot of folks there is something about the third quarter that is challenging, even confronting. A last call of sorts, before the close of business initiated by the Leo New Moon just about three weeks ago. Maybe there is also an intuitive sense of vertigo. After all as we watch the last quarter Moon rise in the East, whether we know it or not, the Earth is heading straight for it.

Of course, the Moon always moves out of the way. And after all, this phase is just part of a cycle. Properly speaking there is no beginning or end, just a phase.

Interestingly enough, we find a fascinating bit of synchronicity today. Just as the Moon reached the third quarter of its cycle yesterday, today finds Luna and over a dozen planets (major and minor) about three quarters of the way through their respective signs. Somehow it seems appropriate to take the long road towards looking at that concurrence by going outside again (weather permitting) and taking up where we left off last night.

Please remember that last night we followed the extended curve of the Big Dipper’s handle until our eyes were led to the bright star, Arcturus. Tonight we want to begin earlier. This exercise will work better for those who live in the more temperate latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere.

The line that leads from Arcturus to the star Spica is a rather more precipitous drop than from the Big Dipper’s handle to Arcturus. Not quite vertical, slanting towards the South. It helps to locate Venus first, that bright steady diamond on the western horizon at sunset. That’s the neighborhood. Start with Venus, and proceed to the left to find the brightest twinkler nearby. That’s Spica.

This is where your latitude will make a difference. You see, unlike the North Star, the Big Dipper or Arcturus, Spica is very close to the ecliptic: that imaginary line in the sky near which the Sun and planets can be found. The position of the arc of the ecliptic will depend on your latitude and the time of year. Therefore Spica is what you might call seasonal.

Your faithful correspondent lives in the northern Puget Sound basin between the 47th and 48th parallel. From this place Venus, Spica and Mars are already quite close to the horizon at sunset. For someone, say in the southwestern part of the United States, this trio would appear to be higher in the sky for longer. Nevertheless, if you are anywhere north of the Tropic of Cancer, Spica is not long for the evening. It will be gone in another month. Arcturus will follow in November. See them now while you can.

Meanwhile, Venus and Mars grow apart gradually as one slows down while the other speeds up. Both of them are about three quarters of the way through Libra, an air sign. The Moon reaches the same position in Gemini, another air sign, today. As discussed earlier in the week, signs designated by the same element tend to play well together. It would follow then that planets in different signs that share the same element would have something in common, something to talk about.

If the Moon could talk with Venus and Mars today, where would they find empathy? Well, they are are all near the end of some very long cycles. Mars has looped and rolled back and forth across the ecliptic over this past year or so. Now, like Spica, it is not long for the night sky. Venus has risen as far towards the East as it can go during its tenure as the so-called evening star, now it is slowing down in preparation for its own vanishing act, after which it will reappear on the other side of the sky at the opposite time of day. And Luna, well, we have already touched on that.

Don’t know about you, but the imagination of yours truly suggests that these three heavenly bodies could be feeling a bit diminished by now. On the last furlong, waiting for their second wind, looking forward to a new cycle just around the curve. And they are not alone. Eris and Sedna are out on the edge of the solar system. Ceres is in the asteroid belt along with Hygiea, Hidalgo, Terpsichore, Magdalena, Amor, Apollo and Osiris. Chariklo, Varuna and Logos are looping like laces in between. All of them are entering the fourth quarter of their respective signs and all of them are feeling it.

And how about you, are you feeling it? As we traipse the last days towards an equinox, are you tired? Do you feel like you could sleep in a couple extra weeks on any given morning? Does it seem like a cycle is closing? Are you ready for the boost of a new cycle beginning? Thought so. Such a pick-me-up is actually close at hand. Tomorrow, as a matter of fact, and from an unexpected quarter. Its something very much like a New Moon in its physical manifestation of three bodies lining up.

Thank you for your time this week; tomorrow Eric is back with the Friday edition and weekly horoscopes. Among other things he’s going to tell you about Mercury’s conjunction with the Sun.

Offered In Service

22 thoughts on “Into the Fourth Quarter”

  1. Meanwhile, back at the Merc (and then some) Retrograde. . .

    From an hour into this one (when I locked my keys in the car just before an interview), until just about now, this Rx has been a hUmDiNgEr…

    If anyone else is having this kind of fortnight+, maybe you’ll find some comfort here:

    Adventures in Wrongology

    “To be wrong, after all, is to depart from the facts into creativity, to become artists in our own lives. Error may feel like despair, but it is more akin to hope: ‘We get things wrong because we have an enduring confidence in our own minds; and we face up to that wrongness in the faith that, having learned something, we will get it right next time.’ ”

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/28/being-wrong-kathryn-schulz-review

  4. And I say to you Carrie, congratulations! You have come so far on your plan to lose weight, but now you have stalled. This stalling of plans and hopes is another sign of the times, but why I don’t know. Others (me too) have projects that aren’t moving as fast as planned. Perhaps a plateau has been reached in our progress and other areas of our life must catch up before forward movement toward our goals can re-start. Congratulations too on your husband’s excellent teaching position. We are making progress, aren’t we?

    I mentioned yesterday that 9/19 was the day transiting Neptune would conjunct the U.S. Pallas Athene. That should be September 18th instead of 19th, which is also the day transiting Jupiter and Uranus (in Pisces) will make their 2nd conjunction. They are also retrograde.

    It should also be mentioned that transiting (retro) Chiron will exactly conjunct the U.S. (Sibly) Moon at 27 Aquarius 10 on this day, September 18.

    There is one more astro fact I discovered that compels me to make note of it here and that is that the U.S. PROGRESSED Ceres (think food) is at 28+ Pisces too, along with the transiting Uranus and Jupiter conjunction.

    So reiterating what I said yesterday:
    U.S. Pallas Athene, as Protectress of the State, is hyper-vigilant these days, and is conjunct the U.S. Moon, which represents the people of the country and their feelings, and they are being transited by Neptune (less than honest, blurry and confusing) and Chiron (teacher, healer, makes us aware) in exact conjunctions to these two U.S. planets on September 18.

    Adding that Uranus (surprise or shock) and Jupiter (understanding, increase) are exactly conjunct in the same degree that the U.S. progressed Ceres (food supply) is right now, it is quite possible that this surprise could come in the form of understanding something about our food supply. As the sign Pisces is where this 3-way conjunction takes place, it might involve seafood. by the way, all 3 are sextile U.S. natal Pluto and all 3 are near the U.S. 4th house (homeland) cusp.

    With the U.S protector (Pallas) being exactly conjunct Neptune by transit it reinforces the water element as well as some confusion. The Moon being exactly conjoined by transiting Chiron means the people are being made aware of something. That all these planets (2 transits and 2 natal U.S.)are conjunct each other on the same day as the above Uranus, Jupiter, and prog. U.S. Ceres conjunction leads me to think they are related to the same theme and are telling us something important about it. It could be several things other than our food supply, but I’m a Cancer Sun and this is what’s important to me!

    Also, transiting Mercury will have already gone direct by September 18, and is in Virgo of course, adding to the concerns over health, and will oppose the U.S. natal Ceres at 8 Pisces 10 the next day, September 19. The U.S. natal Ceres is conjunct the U.S. natal Nessus, associated with poison, at 9 Pisces 0. These 2 U.S. planets are squared by the U.S. natal Uranus (unexpected) at 8 Gemini 55, and during the next few days (September 19 and 20) the transiting Mercury will form a T-square with the 3 U.S. planets (opposing Ceres and Nessus and squaring Uranus) from the U.S. 9th house of foreign countries, among other things.

    As the transiting Uranus, Jupiter and the Neptune, Chiron conjunctions are all in retrograde mode, my gut feeling is that we will get a warning of some kind, due to the U.S. planets (natal and progressed) they aspect on September 18. I think that transiting Mercury which was previously retrograde and now direct will reveal some information/documentation that will expose something unknown and unexpected (U.S. Uranus), and that it might be about the food supply, possibly seafood, possibly from the Gulf of Mexico (Ceres in U.S. third house [neighbors]) which could lead to potential harm (U.S. Nessus). . . or not.

    As transiting Ceres, who was conjunct Pluto at the time of the 4/20 Gulf disaster, approaches the Galactic Center, as well as a square to the Uranus/Jupiter conjunction, and a sextile to the Neptune/Chiron conjunction (as well as the U.S. planets they aspect), she might provide a clear and hopeful message that will prevent a national, or even world-wide contamination of the food supply. She’s a good girl!

  5. Thanks Len, it helps to understand why i am feelign what I am feeling. I have been both tired and sick. I have had an intestinal bug these past three days that wiped my energy out. Today I woke up on my own before I even had 8 hours of sleep in; I feel better already. My diet that I began in mid- May and that lost me 78 lbs has, for the past month and a half, stalled. I am eating less but the weight is just not budging; I have 100 lbs still to lose. Every bite I take is weighed against what it will do to me later on the scale. I wish something would jump start my body back into losing again. I feel better but I am still fat and tired of being so.

    I am feeling angst about the fact that the Liberal Left Democrats seem to refuse to take the ball they have been so easily offered and run with it; why aren’t they making the case out of the fact that the Republicans (and Teaparty folks) want to get rid of Social Security and Medicare? Blast that on televisions 24/7 and the old vanguard would turn coat faster than you can say “death panels.” Oh I know that not all Republicans agree with getting rid of SS and Medicare but a lot of them secretly do and if Democrats and the Liberal Left keep playing honestly, we are going to be faced with yet another Republican controlled congress. We have seen how effective the misinformation is in Republican hands and The People seem to prefer that over reality so GIVE them a teeny bit of misinformation; even though Republicans have pretended not to agree with the Teaparty folks about getting rid of Social Security and Medicare, SAY they agree. Say it long and LOUD and then get on with the business of keeping level-headed, liberals in the congress where we desperately need them. It wouldn’t be a total lie because too many Republicans secretly want to end Social Security and Medicare; they are too afraid of the oldsters’ vote to say it openly so we MUST say it for them and shout it to the rooftops.

    Ok, enough ranting about that stuff; I have been outside at night and here in Flagstaff (a “dark” city) I can see a LOT of stars and the Big Dipper and all those. It feels grounding to see them because they have been there all my life, no matter where I lived (and I lived in a lot of places as an Army Brat) so they are comforting to me.

    Yesterday (Sept 2) my husband got hired for a full-time teaching position on the Navajo Reservation. he will be teaching middle school social studies to Native kids. He has taught out there before at one of our district run schools and some of those students will be at this private school that hired him because the district school ended the middle school grades for their school. These schools are across the street from each other. He will have to drive about 50 miles one way every day but the pay is better than the district would have paid him. I am very happy because this is the answer to prayer for all six of us. He loves teaching Native kids and the Native folks out there like him because he is not the usual brash, know-it-all Americans they have dealt with before. My husband is respectful and quiet; unthreatening and careful. The kids LOVE him.

    I am into my first week of classes online again; it may not be as bad this time.

    The fantastic closeness and sex drive my husband and I experienced in June and some of July has stopped for some reason so we are both wondering what happened. I know; TMI but every bit of info helps when dealign with astrological happenings.

    That’s how I am feeling these days.

  6. michele,

    Thank you for your beautiful humanity. i can see you shining from here. The circumstances you describe (being cut off from the sky) are a recent development in the history of our species. Something we have done to ourselves. Like Eric said recently, we each are responsible for what we know. Though far away from each other in miiles, i am proud to stand next to you in spirit and share the burden of responsibility for what we know.

  7. my sky is pitch black. i can see a wisp or two of clouds – so it doesn’t seem overcast. i can’t even seem to find the moon. and people are screaming very bad things to each other on the street. it’s a dark night. so is it possible to see nothing up here when you guys see so many things down there? i need an arctic astrologer. at least a have a deck, a warm blankie and a cold wind.

    @ len: i can never see the planets you talk about in the sky. though when i went a little more southerly a few weeks ago, i could. research time for me, i guess. small city, not many lights… maybe i need to go out and lie on an rocky outcrop anyway? the northern lights should be starting soon, though. there’s that.

    and, yes. looking forward to the pick-me-up. it sort of started today for me. today just felt different after several ravaging weeks.

    thanks for your writing.

  8. Hazel1,

    Because the Big Dipper goes around the North Star whether it’s “upside down” or not depends on the night and the time of night, but it looks like you found it.

    If the handle is pointing at Arcturus, if the two outside stars on the top of the “question mark” are pointing north at all times (regardless of its orientation) and if it’s visible year-round, it’s the Big Dipper.

    The constellation Leo is in the Ecliptic so you can’t see it year-around. It’s seasonal.

  9. So Len, is the big dipper that kind of upside down/on its side question mark thing? I thought that was the tail of Leo. I live in the country, no competing lights really, so maybe I see too much stuff up there. I see the milky way really well (I do know what that is at least) and I see the question mark/tail/possible dipper all the time. I always thought the dipper was smaller than that, but it would make sense, it IS big. I see Orion in the morning when I’m walking my new dog, I learned that one watching Men In Black. You never know where you’re going to learn these things.

  10. be,

    You are amazing. Your appended comments never fail to educate and provide valuable perspective. Your obvervations about Pallas Athene are the work of a true master astrologer, familiar with seminal references. Your note about the next Jupiter-Uranus conjunction (in Pisces this time) is very well taken. Your familiarity with ascension theory broadens the perspective and adds depth of feeling.

    Thank you so much for another valuable contribution!

  11. zk,

    Please remember – you are made of stardust and the way in which you are put together comes from the stars as well. You are a voting citizen of the universe. Cast your vote.

  12. I always avoided astronomy classes or contemplating the vast universe because it made me feel so afraid, and I really wanted to convince myself that I mattered and all this stuff on earth was very very important! All the people and things needed to feel very solid and meaningful, and looking up at the stars made me doubt that. I actually preferred the dim skies that big city living allowed. I am sure fear of death is behind it all.
    When science teachers would casually mention that one day the sun would burn out, I would immediately plug my ears before I heard the rest of the sentence.

    So, it is with the guidance I find here that I will pick up where I left off years ago when I turned my back on the sky, and look up.

    I’ll be out tonight and through the weekend, with instructions in hand.

    Oh and yes I feel tired too, but also a little roughed up and not even sure I am ready for a pick me up! I wouldn’t mind a pause button 🙂

    Thanks Len!!!!!

    Aword- nice thoughts….resonate:)

  13. There are probably numerous reasons as to why so many of us are extremely tired these days, but one of them could be (for Americans) that transiting Neptune is almost exactly conjunct the U.S. Sibly Pallas Athene. Pallas as the “Protectress of the State” has had her guard up a lot (for some time now) due to this transit, what with the barrage of threatened attacks, most of which are illusory. This can be exhausting. . .sort of like fighting ghosts. Pallas Athene is conjunct the Moon in the U.S. chart, and transiting Neptune transits with Chiron, as he has been doing for several years. The Moon, for the U.S. and her citizens, adds the element of emotion to all that defensiveness, while Chiron traveling with Neptune adds the repeated insistance that we pay attention in order to become more conscious of what’s around us. Talk about tiresome. Forced to pay attention to something we can’t actually see, but we have to defend ourselves against, and which scares the hell out of us.

    On September 19, transiting Neptune will exactly conjunct the U.S. Pallas Athene, which is the same day that transiting Jupiter and Uranus in Pisces will exact their conjunction. I expect there will be a whole lot of us getting stretched emotionally that day as we prepare for yet another threat to our country. Try to get plenty of rest.

    Another possible reason for exhaustion, if you subscribe to the Ascension theory, is that we are going through much purging of the darkness of earth herself as she is prepared to move from carbon base to crystalline. Many, many people these days remark on their physical aches and pains and exhaustion as we too prepare to move out of the third dimension and ascend. This too, we are told, is not a “forever” thing, this discomfort and unpleasantness. The act of connecting physically to the sky and the astral messangers is good for our hearts and minds by creating a peacefulness and acceptance of our oneness. Do what makes you feel good, be it meditation, sharing laughs with friends, play and/or prayer. It’s a time of birth on many levels.
    be

  15. The putrid smell of sabotage (as in sabotaging Obama) was already filling the air (prior to today’s Gulf explosion). We know the Gulf is full of bombs but….

    And paranoia does not serve; my statement is only that there is no reason to trust that this – like so many events as piles of shit on the proverbial full plate – is ‘yet another accident’.

  16. Interesting…not tired, not at all….more like a ‘waiting’ but more than that — a ‘need to be preparing’ — but with little actual activity. Planning mode. Pre-production.

    I finally picked up on my Merc Retro pattern; I become excessively chatty, yes — but about “unfinished business”. So right now, for me today, the season is about responding to Mercury’s cues (per looking deeply into what I am chatty about) about unfinished emotional business (everything is based on emotional business) and participating with myself in the understanding, planning and pre-pre-work of what comes next – which will include a cleaning of the slate (finishing or declaring finished that which Merc says is not yet – at least as much as possible until he speaks up again next retro.)

    I’ll bet that part – the slate cleaning by way of the activities – comes when Merc turns back around but before he hits a “new “degree. Hm. We shall see.

    In the meantime, me’n’Venus (I can actually see her each night) will chat a bit. She gets a bit lonely there in my natal 6th, so I think she’s enjoying this time of empowerment.

    Maybe Merc’s got something to say about that too.

    Thanks Len, I’m enjoying the Star Contact.
    xo

  17. For years I saved a newspaper clipping about a fellow who launched a project to get school kids, specifically inner city school kids, to simply look at the sky for a period of time each day. Despite much scoffing and criticism about the foolish uselessness of such an activity, he actually managed to get a program going. Of course the kids reported all manner of benefits, calm happy things happened with them, when they just looked at the sky for fifteen minutes a day.

    This was daytime skyviewing, however. I did not hold on to that clipping in my last weedout of possessions so I have no reference to the details. I believe it was in the 70s.

    Len, I had totally forgotten all about it, until you began your encouragement for us to look at the stars. Thank you for the wonderful reminders.

    Yes I am tired and wish to sleep and Hazel,I love the description of staying awake as a second job! LOL!

    Here the trees block much of the sky, which is nice for shade. I like to watch them but stargazing is a bit compromised……

    I am sad to see the breaking news a bit ago that another oil rig has exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, reported at 10:30 am EDT: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/02/AR2010090202733.html?hpid=topnews

    I also was a bit disturbed to notice that National Guard have been deployed in North Carolina as an emergency response measure for Hurricane Earl. I can see the justification for that but still, it seemed a touch too martial for my comfort zone. And it looks like Earl is going to stay a bad boy out to sea and not do too much mayhem onshore…..

  18. I’m so tired I can hardly think straight – so this is truly welcome news. I was disturbed to see this news come across the transom: Any views folks?
    Another one?!?!?!

    Coast Guard Reports Blast on Oil Rig in Gulf of Mexico
    By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
    Published: September 2, 2010

    Filed at 11:53 a.m. ET

    Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill (2010)GRAND ISLE, La. (AP) — An offshore oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday, west of the site of the April blast that caused the massive oil spill.

    A commercial helicopter company reported the blast around 9:30 a.m. CDT Thursday, Coast Guard Petty Officer Casey Ranel said. Seven helicopters, two airplanes and four boats were en route to the site, about 80 miles south of Vermilion Bay along the central Louisiana coast.

    The Coast Guard said initial reports indicated all 13 crew members from the rig were in the water. One was injured, but there were no deaths.

    The platform owned by Mariner Energy (NYSE:ME) is in about 2,500 feet of water, the Coast Guard said, and was not currently producing.

  19. Tired? Utterly fatigued, physically, mentally, and oh, so much more (sigh!). So looking forward to reviving tomorrow. Thanks for your wise words, Len.

  20. Hazel1,
    Try looking higher in the sky for the Big Dipper, towards the North.

    Scorpio is on the opposite side of the sky from Orion. Opposite corners, if you will. You can see Orion (and his faithful dog, Sirus) in the early mornings now rising in the southeast just before the Sun comes up to the east-northeast.

  21. I do feel tired and like I could sleep extra. Yesterday I was thinking that just being awake lately feels like a second job. I have not been able to find the big dipper yet, I think I found Scorpio (or The Great Beast that chases Orion, which I really like the idea of), and I’ve found Venus and Mars to the west because I live in Santa Fe. I’ll keep looking. I read somewhere, maybe it was on this site, that the literal meaning of disaster is: dis – apart from, aster – the stars, so disaster is when we lose contact, or awareness, or interest with the stars.

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