In yesterday’s edition of Daily Astrology, I explained the background on the past 11 years of stressful astrology — a long series of aspects involving Saturn, which have felt like one test after the next, without our ever finding out our grade. If you want to know a bit about what you’ve been through since 2001, that post may give you a clue.
Today is the second Gemini New Moon within 30 days. The first happened with the Sun in the first degree of Gemini — that was an annular (not annual) solar eclipse. It’s unusual to have two New Moon events in the same sign the same year, though it’s possible when the first one happens on the first or second day the Sun is in the sign.
Today we have a New Moon at the very end of Gemini, at 11:02 am EDT. It’s in something I’ve come to describe as the Atlantis degree — 28+ Gemini, properly known as the 29th degree of Gemini. As I mentioned, this degree is like the eye of a needle through which you can thread the charts for the Sept. 11 incident, the Boxing Day earthquake of 2004, WikiLeaks, the Fukushima nuclear meltdown and a number of other world horoscopes. I’ve been watching the horoscopes of news and historic events for a while and I would rate this as in the top three strangest things I’ve ever seen. I’ve long pondered what it’s about — and I’ve done some digging. I cover the territory in this subscriber series article from 2011 — though here are some additional thoughts.
This time of year when we face toward the Sun in the direction of Gemini, we have our back to the Galactic Center (which is located directly across the sky in late Sagittarius). I believe the Galactic Center, the core of our little (300 billion star) spiral island in space, serves as a homing signal; it pulls us into the galaxy, toward our spiritual home. When we face away from the core, we’re looking out into the vast — and understandably frightening — expanse of intergalactic space. That can have a lonely feel. Some evening this time of year, get a feeling for how comforting the night sky is when we face away from the Sun and into the center of the milky cosmic clouds of our galaxy. That is the direction of home.
When we face late Gemini, we’re also facing in the precise direction of the fixed star Betelgeuse (a star within our own galaxy, located about 1,800 light years from our Sun). Bernadette Brady describes Betelgeuse as having an influence that can bring “unbridled success without complications.”
The question is, success for what, or for whom? That works both ways — successful happy ventures, and successful disasters. Brady, one of the fixed star masters of our day, also describes Betelgeuse as “everlasting fame.” William Lilly, the 17th century maestro, says the star represents “rare engines of war” — not a bad description of the Sept. 11 incident.
So, with these options, I am going to put my chips on unbridled success without complications — though I am concerned about how this New Moon activates so many charts that have wrought so much trouble for so many. I think we can use it as a release point; as a thing we can go beyond.
Speaking of going beyond, today is the day that Mars leaves the degrees where it was retrograde much of the winter — it reaches the end of its second ‘shadow phase’ today at 4:18 pm EDT.
The New Moon is followed Wednesday by the Cancer ingress of the Sun, or the northern summer solstice (southern winter solstice). This is by definition an Aries Point event, as the Sun is square one of the tropics and thus in aspect to the spot where the zodiac begins. This zone of the zodiac (involving early Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn) is like an intersection of private life and public life, something true not just in theory but also apparent in the study of many charts.
Then on Sunday, June 24, we have the first of the long-anticipated Uranus-Pluto squares. This is what I’ve been calling the 2012 aspect. There will be seven of these between Sunday and early 2015, so this is really the beginning of an astrological era that’s been warming up for at least two years; that’s how Uranus-Pluto aspects work. They take so long to develop (this one has its roots in a conjunction of the same two planets in 1965-66) that they are once in a lifetime events. And they always arrive with turns of history, usually in the liberationist style.
On Monday, June 25, Jupiter and Neptune form their one and only square for this cycle; Jupiter is in Gemini and Neptune is in Pisces. This is a slippery aspect, suggesting that one not be too idealistic — realism is the key. Investigate something until you know the truth of the matter. Misunderstandings can happen with the best intentions, so maintain a posture of gentle, persistent, non-accusatory inquiry till you figure out what’s really going on.
Next, Venus stations direct in early Gemini, after a six-week retrograde. That happens Wednesday, June 27. So will end the third inner-planet retrograde of the year. As this happens, the Sun in Cancer moves into an exact square to Uranus in Aries and an opposition to Pluto in Capricorn, which will activate the still-exact Uranus-Pluto square. Notably, this is within hours of the first-quarter Moon, which is to say that the Moon and the Sun pass through the Uranus-Pluto square within about 48 hours of one another, just as Venus stations direct.
This all leads up to the Capricorn Full Moon on July 3, which happens the same day that Mars ingresses Libra and jumps onto the cardinal cross, into the mix of Uranus and Pluto.
Now, if you think all of this is a lot, you’re right — it is. These events are closely concentrated, and happening one after the next. But we’ve already been through a lot; and there is some good news amidst the concentrated sequence of events. Venus and Mars are making moves associated with direct motion, which will release energy and help unravel complications. We can be also grateful that the eclipses are behind us.
Uranus square Pluto has been building up for decades like a thunderstorm that many of us wish would just finally happen — it’s been a long time coming, and this aspect is going to torture some people with dark agendas (or who are parked on a low density level) while it spurs on those who are seeking liberation. There may be some tension (as described by the aspect I talked about yesterday — Saturn opposite Eris, and the Jupiter-Neptune square), but at least we will get to play a good game. If you have to kick some ass, or tell it like it is, be a good sport.
All in all, I think the moral of the story is KNOW YOUR FACTS. Capital letters in italics. This is cautionary information from Jupiter square Neptune. Take things one step at a time. Allow things to develop, and guide your life gently. Remember — this is all part of one process. There’s one story arc involved, and that would be the path of your life. Remember too that what happens over the next few weeks is an extension of the events that commenced with the solar eclipse on the first day of Gemini.
Recalling a line from the Patric Walker horoscope, the stars in their courses may guide us, but it is we who must row the boat.
with love,
“this degree is like the eye of a needle through which you can thread the charts for the Sept. 11 incident, the Boxing Day earthquake of 2004, WikiLeaks, the Fukushima nuclear meltdown and a number of other world horoscopes.”
And now the devastating floods of Duluth, MN this week join the list. Maybe it’s not as high profile or far-reaching as those listed above, but my goodness, talk about Atlantis! The city is built on steep cliffs and hills bordering Lake Superior, and one could say it’s been swallowed, Atlantis-like, by the great lake.
thank you liminali
i shall take a glance at astrodienst toute de suite
xtica, the extended chart selection at astrodienst, astro.com has a fixed star option listed under “additional objects”. It’s pretty cool, fixed stars appear in purple on the edge of your chart. They are abbreviated, SPI = Spica, ANT = Antares, etc. and you have count the degrees, no numerical data is provided.
There is also the Starlight program for fixed stars, more info here: http://www.zyntara.com/starlight_tutorials_skyparans.html
This site will send you a fixed star report for your birthchart, with very good info.
Oh, and your idea of jealousy being like a vestigal appendage appeals to me. IMO, there is something very dino-brained and physical to jealousy. It has as much to do with power as it does with sex. Sometimes more.
how does one go about finding out what fixed stars are in their chart?
By my Venus I mean secondary progressions. The synchronicities are thick this year.
Sacrifice: I got the first line of hexagram 50, Ding today. It’s about cleaning out the ding to make room for the new so that one can follow the sage. Yes, I hear what you mean about technology. I’ve been spending far less time on the web and lots and lots of time with other people in the flesh lately.
It’s been a sacrifice these past 11 years to stay solo. Looking back at the 90’s and first year of the new Xtian millenium towards the end I decided firmly that I’d rather be alone than in a toxic relationship ever again. During my college years I went through ordeal after ordeal where all my emotional wounds were triggered over and over again. After a house fire in 2008 that immolated almost all of the art I had made up until that point as well as my musical instruments I came back into contact with my friend Adam who over the next 2 years taught me everything he knew of the internal martial arts.
Since then it’s been the internal martial arts that have brought me to finally undoing the sources of my emotional buttons so that when they get triggered I don’t get possessed by the emotion and pile new karma onto an old burden. Rather I allow the emotion to rise and rather than fall swoon to it ride it like a dragon by keeping my Shen raised until it passes away in a cloud of vapor.
It’s been a long process, but staying out of the extra energy of female sexuality for the last decade may have been necessary. Just a few nights ago I found and released a knot of jealousy that would have been much harder to ride to dissolution if it was amped up by partner sex. The anger I worked out via martial arts training only doomed my relationships before.
So this is the year when my Venus finally turns direct. I’m just starting to feel soft enough to play again after many years walking the underworld of my childhood emotional hells in order to undo them. I offer up every poisonous dream I ever held in ignorance and fear in sacrifice.
Very hard to emphasize the fixed star Betelgeuse, I’ll try to not miss the appointment with Jupiter associated with the star and appointment reproducing all 12 product event should not go unnoticed
A treasure this site on the fixed stars
http://www.constellationsofwords.com/stars/Stars_alphabet.htm
🙂
“It seems to be rare, possibly because it takes a lot of work, sometimes, to solve the problems and misunderstandings that arise, from within ourselves, but also thrown at us by Life.”
Much of the credit for my relationship with him belongs squarely in the lap of the excellent therapists we both had before we met. We would not have been the people we are (with the awareness of the baggage and the programming) without that therapy. The right therapy works wonders. Both of us lucked out and had the kind of therapists and programs we needed.
I think that is why it is so rare; most people don’t go into relating with awareness of themselves, their baggage, and their programming. In fact, after reading R. Joseph’s book about the right and left brain, I could see just how prevalent the unconsciousness in most people really is. It is epidemic and hard to change because they have to want to change and most don’t even know they should or could change. Nor is it up to me to make them change. All I can do is be an example.
Thanks Carrie! Tho I wasn’t clear – it looks like I’m saying the one thing we gained is perspective. I meant to say that monogamy, like so many things, is a matter of perspective, how one chooses to perceive it.
I am glad you have that depth of relationship with your husband. It seems to be rare, possibly because it takes a lot of work, sometimes, to solve the problems and misunderstandings that arise, from within ourselves, but also thrown at us by Life.
Sex, as we age, can be fraught with difficulties. It’s very unfair the way Nature has unbalanced male/female desire and ability!, but there are solutions, and sometimes things just work themselves out when you least expect them to.
We are always playing, even if not always having sex, like 20-year old bunnies, and that is critical to keeping us gaga over each other! But that’s just our dynamic – we’ve always played, and been silly together, laughing all the time. Besides keeping us bonded like crazy glue, it makes Life more bearable!
Dawn,
This:
“I am monogamous, in that we are 2 soul mates, in love for 36 of our 52/53 years. We only desire each other, to be with each other. This commitment isn’t about what we may have theoretically given up by choosing each other, and excluding others, it’s about what we’ve gained by being devoted to each other – perspective.”
said it way better than I have been saying it. THANK YOU for including it here because that’s exactly how it feels to me.
Although I have felt desire for others it is not the same kind of desire; it is that sexual twinge of attraction but that only has to do with the desire for orgasms; not the deep closeness I have with DH.
I have even felt a connection with others that is emotional but still not the depth of what I feel with DH. The defining question was always “do I love that other? If I walked away from the idea of (or the emotional relating with) the other would it be as painful as it would be if I walked away from DH?” The answer has always been NO. That’s how I know the difference between real love and desire and the less deep connection or sexual desires.
With my natal Mars at 29 degrees Gemini & with Mercury (25 degrees) and my Sun (3 degrees) also in Gemini in my 8th house (whole sign) . . . I feel so fortunate to be working on this creative endeavor at http://www.shamansofrock.com Please take a look if you get a chance. Happy New Moon.
I just looked and I have a fairly loose trine between Vesta in Virgo and Venus in Capricorn. In my life my renunciation (monk) was my sacrifice. I wasn’t one of those guys who said, I’m totally done with sex – at 21. I made a choice though, which felt good. It was still a sacrifice. But that sacrifice provided the crucible for me to undergo many internal changes, many focusing aspects (esp to my music), and ultimately gain many deep insights at an early age. I would love to have an astrologer look at this, but from my end, the Venus in Cap is a long evolution of erotic development. Vesta is also in my solar 11th, which is prob about keeping my connection to source strong by means of a creative expression (which is also about sex). Having Saturn in Cancer is probably pointing to emotional structure that was imposed on me, but ultimately nourishing and maternal (mom).
Just sharin’
HS
Giving up something, or choosing not to have something, isn’t the same as sacrifice, which seems to involve somehow being forced to give up something against your will, or rather, against your desire, as it’s still one’s will at work when choosing to sacrifice.
As for monogamy, jealousy and the seemingly-connected issues of sacrifice when choosing monogamy, it is sacrifice IF it goes against your desires. If there is no desire for others, there is no sacrifice involved.
I am monogamous, in that we are 2 soul mates, in love for 36 of our 52/53 years. We only desire each other, to be with each other. This commitment isn’t about what we may have theoretically given up by choosing each other, and excluding others, it’s about what we’ve gained by being devoted to each other – perspective.
Great convo, gang. It’s interesting how technology is both deeply uniting (PW, for instance) and superficial (for me, FB and TV, both of which I avoid).
Time to look up the sacrifice topic from ACIM. I know this has been an issue for me up until recently. Anybody want to address the difference between renunciation and sacrifice? This brings to mind Carrie’s discussion the other day about monogomany vs jealousy.
Atlantis – the asteroid – is about the abuse of technology. If anyone thinks that Atlantis is a factor in destructive or self-destructive relationships, technology is the factor to isolate first, so that would mean going Luddite for a while. I am speaking directly to Yeti’s question. But I suggest the whole aspect be worked with — including the involvement of ‘sacrifice’. I would need to see the chart and hear the circumstances to say more.
cool, cause during skype sex, if I get nervous, my usb won’t get droopy…
so, no relating online at all or just like skype sex?
Yeti, I suggest two things — one is don’t mix your relationships up in technology — keep them in person. Second is address the issue of sacrifice, which may be what Vesta is highlighting. If you can do some research into A Course in Miracles there is some cohesive stuff there about the concept of sacrifice and what it does to us.
Hey Eric,
It’s a simple quote, “There’s one story arc involved, and that would be the path of your life.”, but one that often gets overlooked when we get bogged down with details or particular transits. I love this, you’ve reminded me to chillax a bit, drink a smoothie and not to worry about getting it right the first time.
Thanks man,
HS
Yes – I agree. But he had this indomitable spirit, which I think was part of where his farting around philosophy came from. That thing of taking life seriously, but at the same time not taking yourself too seriously.
The thing is that Vonnegut did everything but fart around. Or at the least, he was extremely productive.
Thank you so much dear! (this was the ‘chaos’ I was alluding to the other day, but it’s an exciting moment).
And thanks for you well wishes for the book!
Huffy, May the situation which is closest to your Bliss become Real for you!
I mean fixed contract, not full time.
Yes – love the “Follow your bliss”, Dawn! ‘Farting around’ can be a serious business. In fact, next week I’ve got a four hour exam, which if I pass could lead to well paid editing work, and a passport out of my present work situation. Also have another horrific exam coming up for a full time teaching contract, but that one’s a shot in the dark. But I’ve decided to lighten up it about all, and hell – just do it for the ride.
Good luck with your book, all sounds good.
Huffy, God is happiest when her children are at play. Though that Play doesn’t necessarily preclude Purpose. And may actually be intrinsically entwined, as in Campbell’s “Follow Your Bliss.”
Kurt Vonnegut said, “We are here on Earth to fart around. Don’t let anybody tell you any different.” I just read this – and in true new moon and Venus in Gemini spirit – think I’ll make it my motto.
“Betelgeuse as having an influence that can bring “unbridled success without complications.””
That’s good, as I’ve begun to write a book, which may (or may not!) be part of my real work in this life. I’m just going with it.
Thank you SO much <3
I’ve just been told to walk through Gemini.
29 is “Creative exuberance of the human soul in response to basic life experience.”
I like to go to those when I’m perplexed. So, I’m going to run with that one.
In the big picture, this made me wonder how extraordinary what we are experiencing really is…?? Maybe what could be extraordinary is what we do with this… So many options. Every moment. And, yet, as much as we all like to quote history… We never seem to actually listen to its message. Regardless of how many time its been repeated to us, or how many time we repeat it to each other… Tonight it just seems like a ridiculous amount of words and images… When we keep telling ourselves the same damn stories.
I’m not even mad. I’m actually hopeful. And somewhere in between…
Quote wandering_yeti
“How can an Atlantis aspect be healed?”
That is something I would like to know as well. I have orcus at 1.41 cancer, is this location in the “atmosphere” of Atlantis degree?
Thank you Eric!
Something from the Atlantis article: people with Atlantis in aspect to Venus doom their relationships. Well, my Atlantis is only 1 degree from a conjunction with my Vesta and a trine to my Venus. It’s true at least as far as sexual relationships have gone that all of them were doomed. I’ve been out of intimate relationships since 2001, dissolving more and more yuk left over in my emotional body every year I’ve been solo. Is that it? Doomed relationships? How can an Atlantis aspect be healed?