By Len Wallick
Late last night or early this morning, depending on where you are, the Moon reached its last quarter phase. It is now on its way towards the Capricorn New Moon and solar eclipse of January 4. Mars is currently applying to form a cardinal square with Saturn tomorrow. Those aspects will be the subject of today’s blog.
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The last quarter of the Moon is a square aspect between the luminaries. In other words, in this phase of its orbit, Luna is at a longitudinal right angle to a line between the Earth and Sun. From this orientation it follows that the Moon would appear to be half-illuminated (on the side opposite that of the first quarter, rising in the middle of the night, and reaching its highest point in the sky at dawn.
Less evident is the fact that this phase of the Moon serves to orient us regarding our planet’s orbital motion around the Sun. If you saw the half-lit Moon just before sunrise this morning you were looking in the approximate direction of Earth’s motion at a speed of somewhat less than 65,000 miles per hour. Fortunately, Luna is also moving so it is well out of the way by the time we reach that spot.
When the Moon is in the last quarter phase, its physical orientation and dichotomous appearance from the Earth make it an appropriate time for discernment rather than decision. This is especially true when Luna is in Libra as it is now. Consider we are still under the influence of Sol’s conjunction with Pluto. Combine that with the appearance that Mars has returned strong or stronger in its application as it is in aspect. With these factors, we are fortunate that the Moon encourages contemplation and restraint. This perspective finds itself both enhanced and challenged by an Aries stellium of the centaur Pelion and two asteroids, Hebe and Amor, forming a cardinal T-square conjunct to the degree with the Sun and Moon.
Unlike any of the other centaur planets, Pelion is named after a place rather than an individual. And what a place it is. A mountain named after the legendary king Pelius, father of Achilles. It is situated on a peninsula that hooks out into the Aegean Sea in east-central Greece. It is the mythical home of Chiron and most if not all of the other Centaurs. It was also the location of the arranged marriage that paired a mortal (Pelion) and an immortal (Thetis) as an attempt to short-stop a prophecy that would have threatened Jupiter as ruler of the Pantheon. One problem, this marriage was the party that Eris was not invited to. So the king of gods gets to keep his throne and we get the Trojan War instead. Gee, thanks mister.
Familiar with the law that says matter and energy can be transmuted but not destroyed? Well, there must be some sort of similar maxim regarding the conservation of destiny. Prevent one eventuality only to replace it with another. Well, that’s what seems to have happened on that wedding day. Indeed, that is just one case of auspicious episodes that started on the slopes of Pelion. It is no wonder that Philip Sedgwick uses words like destiny, dharma and rites of passage to describe this object.
One should not forget however, that as a class of minor planets, centaurs are vested with the cachet of psychological shadow material. Damage done, carried forward as trauma, nurtured by grudge or other forms of attachment at great price to energy and development. Release of which coincides with growth and liberation. When one considers the baggage that accompanied the lives of Achillies, Chiron, Jason, Medea, and others associated with Pelion the place, one can see that the shadow shoe fits the object every bit as well as Mr. Sedgwick’s apt characterizations.
So combine the shadowed energy of this legendary place of departure with one asteroid representing youth (Hebe) and another representing love (Amor), oppose it to the Moon, square it to the Sun and we have some very tender feelings involved with what could be the start of something big. Something that starts off as very personal and ideal today could become very political and stylized. One could do a lot worse than initiate a pattern of love to heal the ages. Sure beats conquest, jealousy and greed.
Heck, forget the ages, we could use some love right now. Ever since the Red One gained closure with Venus first in Libra, then in Scorpio, it has shaken off its retrograde ways and feels like its incorrigible old self again. Part of that recovered identity is the tendency to express itself strongly in days just before an aspect is exacted. So if some of the Pluto intensity from late Sunday and early yesterday seems to have shifted without abating, you may want to look at the cardinal square between Mars and Saturn.
If you haven’t noticed, Saturn is very strong right now. Exalted in Libra is like all the perks of rulership and none of the duties. Even as the aspectarian influence of that residence grows by the day, the signs that the Ringed One does rule, Capricorn and Aquarius, are sending home the juice with no end in sight. After all, where the Sun is, that’s where the Sun is. Add to that an impending solar eclipse and minor planets emigrating from Sagittarius almost by the day and Cap’s got it wrapped for a while.
Aquarius with Neptune and Chiron still in functional conjunction is not exactly chopped liver either. Although overlooked by many, this pairing is doing the work of Atlas on Saturn’s behalf. Something for which an appreciation will soon grow.
We must also remember that as compelling as the challenge from Mars in telegraph mode may be, the Ruddy Warrior is still in Capricorn, just as Pluto is, and hence under the disposition of Saturn. Thus tomorrow’s big square aspect takes on the semblance of a rigged game. We may feel a transition of sustained intensity — from being driven to wanting to drive — but that is not going to happen just yet. If you want to find out where the limits are by running into them at full speed, go ahead, knock yourself out. Please be aware that you may literally do just that to yourself.
Better to give The Man his due right now. This too will pass and the best way to bide our time is in action, by working on ourselves instead of striking out rashly against that we perceive as holding us back. Try to create a vision and prepare yourself to accept and utilize the opportunities for expansion and liberation that will surely come next year. Remember, just because Mars wants you to go off prematurely does not mean you have to. Ask yourself, are you going to run the energy or is it going to run you?
One other thing and this is a trump card for you: remember Venus. The Morning Light is still in Scorpio, which, you guessed it, is traditionally ruled by Mars. It is still climbing in the sky, not reaching its greatest western elongation until January 8, which you will note, is after the eclipse, after Pluto emerges from its retrograde echo and after the final conjunction of Jupiter and Uranus in Pisces. All of this takes place the first week of 2011. But Venus is yours, your desire transformed. And Venus is also Mars, the other side of the coin. Oh yeah, if you think Mars is hot, Venus has got something to show you.
So, stay cool for now. Be like Coltrane and know when sitting out can hold the tension and build the power. As the ears prick up, you can be waiting with intent, writing the future. Waiting for the moment when the hunger is there. Not for what you want, but for what you have. Make it sweet, make it love.
Offered In Service
I love it Len. Yeah, Coltrane. Will pull him out tomorrow for some inspiration. I posted (part of) your jazz paragraph from yesterday on FB, it so inspired me. This was a response I got: “Did you ever read Kerouac’s pictures of Jazz? His book the Subterranean’s a little tiny jazz piece- to be read like Charlie Parker blew his horn. Read it fast with Parker or Coltrane in mind – do it aloud by yourself or with friends and you’ll see… It can be read in one evening. The first time I read it aloud alone I was dizzy’d (pun intended) and stunned. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQ5uFkaKtuE&feature=player_embedded#!
Yes: Waiting for the moment when the hunger is there. Not for what you want, but for what you have. Make it sweet, make it love.
Yeah, thanks Len, for the rhythm and the rhyme.
Len,
how i dig the way you bend the notes and turn it on, babe, you are the heppest kool kat astrologer this side of the great attactor…
thank you for sharing your uncanny insight and remarkable knowledge,
xo
Hi Len,
I was born in Thessaly, Greece, home to Achilles and a two hour drive to Pelion. I travelled back a few years ago to visit relatives and I drove to Pelion instead of doing the normal run of the mill islands on the lower Agean. Pelion is so exquisite that words will not do it justice; mountainous green terrain meets the edge of the water; cobblestone roads by the sea and holiday homes made of natural granite stone. I melted into nature into a place of inner beauty and harmony the entire time I stayed , complete with a yearning to go back. I never understood why till today. As I read your description my heart pounded so hard your words blurred.
Thank you for this enchanting piece..
The comments today are giving me chills – the good kind. Wow, thank you all.
man — no coltrane in my house (save for a single track on my sweet blue note box set — “blue train”). i’ve heard him regularly/randomly over the years, but i might have to invest in some after all these comments!
i’ve had to “make do” with miles davis’ “collector’s items” on vinyl the last week or two. š
and every christmas i tell myself i’m going to ferret out some of vince guaraldi’s non-charlie brown albums (much as i love that one), then forget till the next christmas. š
and len:
“We may feel a transition of sustained intensity ā from being driven to wanting to drive ā but that is not going to happen just yet. If you want to find out where the limits are by running into them at full speed, go ahead, knock yourself out.”
“This too will pass and the best way to bide our time is in action, by working on ourselves instead of striking out rashly against that we perceive as holding us back. Try to create a vision and prepare yourself to accept and utilize the opportunities for expansion and liberation that will surely come next year. Remember, just because Mars wants you to go off prematurely does not mean you have to. Ask yourself, are you going to run the energy or is it going to run you?”
thanks for these words of wisdom! are you sure you weren’t a fly on the wall of my family’s home the last couple days?
Good god, is it time to put away the birther obsession? The more I read about it, the picture that comes up is a dog dragging its dirty ass on the ground. The birthers just can’t leave it alone, and can’t get over there’s a black man with a Muslim-sounding name as President. Hope this move by Abercrombie can put the rest to silence.
Len:
Listening to Coltrane all throughout the holidays. I’ve got Johnny Hartman’s album with his duets with Coltrane. Talk about the notes that aren’t played!
Its those silences that one feels are breaths, a hand gently enfolding the singer, a warm coverlet on raw emotion — just enough so as not to mask it, but to give it the depth and shadow that the song starts and evokes throughout.
If the current planets are like that, I am totally game to let these worlds move me gently along.
For the Future Belongs to the Yout’…. (Or the young at heart)
Discovering this morning a natal Hebe/Vesta conjunction,
Sensing a potent twinning of juvenile love to sacred, sexy love,
All the while balanced on the current Libran/Saturnian fulcrum,
Rock steady, rock solid.
Brilliant aries point, birthing vital Cardinal cross love.
Blowing cold, blowing hot, The Full Pluto?
Maybe not.
Chironic wounds that are deep, so very deep,
Ancestral cries howl out from a sleep, deep sleep.
Awakening now to some youthful yet sage light.
Right up there alongside powerful Venusian gentleness,
Coupled with hot headed Martian boldness.
A brilliant yet necessary pairing to map our plight.
Solo riffs weaving around discordant jazz (Eris),
Galactic core blues to Hades and back.
This time *we* get to play it, cool cats that we are……
Rehhhaaaarrrrrr.
HE(be)VE(sta) melodies knitting generational hearts to hearts,
And Pallas’ bold, up-stretched arms receiving brilliant Solar flames,
Highlighting cheeky retro mercurial glints,
In our eyes?
Further, further,
Back IN there?
Right brain lobes creating white hot art, blowing
Necessary cooling upon entrenched left brain fears,
They’ve simply (not so simply)
Had their day.
Surely?
But no more, please, ‘cos here come some,
Brand new neural pathways, to throw us forward.
Toss those invites hither and thither for the gathering, up yonder.
See, up at the brilliant, brilliant “Light Bridge” threshold,
Where we shall join outstretched hands to hearts, to smiles and tears,
Letting all solo melodies entwine, just fine, just fine.
(Blessed are the Yout’, for they *shall* lead the way.)
š
Yep, Gov. Abercrombie (D-HI) was apparently a personal friend of BO’s parents and is one of the few people who can truthfully say that POTUS was really born in the United State.
Good morning Len,
While reading your post today I was thinking of the Govenor of Hawaii. Pretty sure that’s who it was, it was early and I can’t give you a name but he was on the morning news and has set his mind to dispelling the myth that the “birthers” have perpetuated for a couple of years now, that President Obama was not born in the U.S.A. He is putting all his authority and power and determination into getting that state to produce an unquestionable birth certificate for PBO. He reportedly was going about it even if the White House were to prefer he not, although I don’t think this has or will happen.
This sounds like a helluva lot of Saturn, for and against, digging out the truth. That sounds like Sun and Pluto and Mars thrown in. And the Pelion thing….it being “home” for the gods who carry so much baggage; that sounds like the President.
When I think of Hebe, and she’s pretty prominent in my own chart, I don’t think so much of youth (good grief!), I think of service, you know, serving the gods their wine and so on. I can see her playing a part in it, and Amor. . . well you should have seen (maybe you did) how passionate that govenor was about clearing the President, whom the Hawaiians love, of all this trash talk. I mean, he was SERIOUS about it!
Personal and Ideal, political and stylized. I can see that happening, especially when he succeeds. . . .and he will, that it will turn into another brouhaha of some kind that just might backfire. Oh well.
When you said that Neptune and Chiron, for all intent and purposes were conjunct at the end of Aquarius and weren’t chopped liver, I laughed. But they indeed have played an enormous part in the whole discrediting of this president, the negative side of Neptune having his way on those who fear this president could take their idea of reality away and therefore have resorted to lies and deception to destroy him. Chiron there to repeatedly challenge “those who fear” to see the truth in this last ditch chance at the end of the tour de Aquarius (and the U.S. Moon) to be healed of their prejudices. Oh yeah! It COULD be something big alright!
And finally, there is Venus in Scorpio. After all the fireworks of the New Moon eclipse opposite the U.S. Sun, and the Jupiter-Uranus conjunction blessed by the trine from this beautiful goddess? Oh yeah baby, this COULD be the start of something big.
Ya think?
be