By and by, nor spare a sigh / Though worlds of wanwood leafmeal lie
— Gerard Manley Hopkins
The Sun enters Scorpio at 8:14 pm EDT Monday. Upon ingress to Scorpio, the Sun will join the asteroid Arachne in an historic water trine to Neptune at its Pisces home. Taken together, the aspects initiating solar Scorpio this year will be as if the sky is addressing a specific subject. The subject would appear to be the human condition. The message is that our condition is not a default inflicted. It is, in fact, an individual and collective creation through which connection may be made or lost.
Though connection is often disparaged as illusory, it can be genuinely achieved by accepting responsibility. Being responsible means seeing yourself as having the power to address your condition and that of others. That perception, or lack of it, creates reality.
The Sun’s immersion in Scorpio’s fixed water always challenges a perception most of us have been conditioned to accept as real, setting life against death. That flies in the face of nature’s cycles, creating a reality of struggles we cannot win without destroying ourselves, and ultimately, the Earth. The energy field of Scorpio, illuminated by the Sun, posits an alternative to making death anathema to life.
The energy field of Scorpio encourages us to affirm death as part of life. That goes beyond just being receptive, although acceptance is conducive to peace of mind. The conscious manifestation of solar Scorpio goes further, challenging us to see the entire cycle of earthly life from the most difficult of perspectives, when life itself is in transition.
For many, it is like trying to see the Moon from the bottom of the sea. Such is the depth of our conditioning. Whether religious or secular in origin, we can overcome such conditioning only by creating an alternative. That act of creation begins with perceiving attachment, and the connection between releasing that attachment and being part of what is.
Releasing attachment to conditioning is among the most difficult things a human being can do. Unlike other earthlings, our conditioning does not need to be constantly reinforced from without to prevent a return to innocence. Instead, we do it to ourselves by perceiving our conditioning to be our identity. That’s a strong attachment which reinforces itself. History provides plentiful examples.
Think of all those who have not only believed but steadfastly identified with human dominion over the Earth, manifest destiny, unlimited resources, racial superiority, gender constraints, one way, one truth or, worst of all, inflicting death on those who do not submit to be conditioned alike. No wonder the living nodes of Scorpio energy are at once attractive and confronting. What attracts us to a solar Scorpio is what we are conditioned to find repelling. What causes a solar Scorpio to repel us is what we are attached to. It is also of little surprise that the Sun’s annual Scorpio tenure is so challenging because it brings to light what usually happens only in the dark.
Limestone becomes marble in the depths of the Earth. Caterpillars become butterflies cloaked by a chrysalis. That’s how Scorpio energy usually works. During the solar tour through Mars’ ancient dominion and the modern realm of Pluto, the dark is illuminated for about four weeks every year. Most of the time we can, and do, wear a blindfold or mask for the duration, but Neptune and Arachne will encourage us to see and be seen as never before.
On Monday, for the first time since the 19th Century, the Sun will enter Scorpio while Neptune occupies Pisces. Nobody alive knows what it feels like. In spite of that, it is likely we will feel something. That’s because the newly Scorpio Sun and Neptune on its own Pisces doorstep will be in trine aspect through the symbolic element of water.
Trines mean flow, without inhibition, without resistance, almost like being there. Water in astrology corresponds to perception through feeling, whether intuitive or emotional. With the Scorpio Sun opening a flow to Neptune through the aegis of water, it is likely that we are about to encounter an unprecedented, and perhaps uncomfortable, feeling of old perceptions being washed away, revealing connections long hidden. Connections are where the solar merger with Arachne will come in.
Named after the mythical progenitor of all spiders, Arachne implies web making. Web making symbolizes connection. Connection, in turn is the common thread through all that is. Next week, the thread will begin with the solar symbol of consciousness, flowing through feeling to Neptune, where attachment and conditioning stand the best chance in ages of being dissolved, but the outcome will not be determined by chance. The outcome will be your responsibility, depending on how you choose to perceive and participate.
Your participation will be crucial when the Sun enters Scorpio to conjoin with Arachne and trine Neptune for the first time in living memory. Neptune’s archetype is potent, as likely to dissolve your connection to the Universe as it is to free you from generations of repression. No planetary archetype, however, is as powerful as an intent to control your perception.
To control your perception is to control your reality. That’s heady stuff, because control confers responsibility, and also choice. The choice is nothing less than life and death. To perceive life and death as separate and pitted against each other is to pit yourself against what is, choose repression, and sever connection with the Cosmos. That’s not much of a reality, and it is not what the human condition has to be. The only thing that makes such a choice possible is that so many have been conditioned to identify with it as the only way. In fact, it is only the way to what is not. Beginning Monday, you, and each of us, will get a chance to see it another way, an inclusive way, the way to connect with what is.
When the Sun enters Scorpio, on some level deeply felt, the flood gates will open. In the flood the blindfolds will be washed away, and all excuses with them. With the blindfolds gone, you will only need open your eyes to perceive an inclusive life. The rest, like the Scorpio Sun’s trine to Neptune, will be history.
Offered In Service
Len is available for astrology readings. You can contact him at lenwallick [at] gmail [dot] com.
P. Sophia,
My bad. . perhaps Damsel appearing to be in distress would be better. Probably it was the “hiding under the water in the crags” that threw me off. Glad to know that threats of earthquakes were not needing to be used in this case.
Anyway, powerful and brave is NOT Salacia, according to the less obscure writings about her.. . I like that she rules the calm waters of the sea. Always open to new interpretations though.
With the sync’ing of natal to transiting ‘planets’ it could mean that you will serve to enlighten others to the plight of water-life with a goal of transforming the polluted to the pure. Or it could have just been a wet dream (heh heh!)
be
Thanks so much for this piece, Len. Smack on. xm
Be: sincerely thank you, you add so much interest and thought on the broader mundane level.
On the private I looked and on my Natal Salacia is at 18. 37 in Scorpio precisely where Mercury was transiting at time of my dream, round 3:30 when woke morning of 19th! And I found I have natal Salacia in water trine to Sun and Jupiter 20.46 (Earth) with Senda transiting there above my Natal Jupiter almost conjunct.
Transfering to the Horo, on the broader level regarding Salacia in the dream and your references, I want to be clear she was not representing anything remotely close to a damsel in distress. Quite the opposite! Powerful and Brave, with no fear is what she was.
Also you suggested the feminine, our heroine as planning on seeking revenge against the attacker. But this was not how it was portrayed at all. Actually she was bravely in a role of protection and empowerment, of herself and in her home. She may have also been protecting Neptune in his mission as he hid the precious (treasure) maps. But not directly.
Besides the more general background info on Salacia found here: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salacia_(mythology)#section_footer
Here’s an interesting interpretation on the theology of Neptune and Salacia i just found showing their cosmic universal, and heavenly role that may offer more for broader perspective personally connecting personal to Horo and earth.
German scholar H. Petersmann has proposed a rather different interpretation of the theology of Neptune. Developing his understanding of the theonym as rooted in IE *nebh, he argues that the god would be an ancient deity of the cloudy and rainy sky in company with and in opposition to Zeus/Jupiter, god of the clear bright sky. Similar to Caelus, he would be the father of all living beings on Earth through the fertilising power of rainwater. This hieros gamos of Neptune and Earth would be reflected in literarature, e.g. in Vergil Aen. V 14 pater Neptunus. The virile potency of Neptune would be represented by Salacia (derived from salax, salio in its original sense of salacious, lustful, desiring sexual intercourse, covering). Salacia would then represent the god’s desire for intercourse with Earth, his virile generating potency manifesting itself in rainfall. While Salacia would denote the overcast sky, the other character of the god would be reflected by his other paredra Venilia, representing the clear sky dotted with clouds of good weather. The theonym Venilia would be rooted in a not attested adjective *venilis, from IE root *ven(h) meaning to love, desire, realised in Sanskrit vánati, vanóti, he loves, Old Island. vinr friend, German Wonne, Latin Venus, venia. Reminiscences of this double aspect of Neptune would be found in Catullus 31. 3: “uterque Neptunus”.[42]
In Petersmann’s conjecture, besides Zeus/Jupiter, (rooted in IE *dei(h) to shine, who originally represented the bright daylight of fine weather sky), the ancient Indo-Europeans venerated a god of heavenly damp or wet as the generator of life. This fact would be testified by Hittite theonyms nepišaš (D)IŠKURaš or nepišaš (D)Tarhunnaš “the lord of sky wet”, that was revered as the sovereign of Earth and men.[43] Even though over time this function was transferred to Zeus/Jupiter who became also the sovereign of weather, reminiscences of the old function survived in literature: e.g. in Vergil Aen. V 13-14 reading: “Heu, quianam tanti cinxerunt aethera nimbi?/ quidve, pater Neptune, paras?”: “Whow, why so many clouds surrounded the sky? What are you preparing, father Neptune?”.[44] The indispensability of water for its fertilizing quality and its strict connexion to reproduction is universal knowledge.[45] Takács too points to the implicit sexual and fertility significance of both Salacia and Venilia on the grounds of the context of the cults of Neptune, of Varro’s interpretation of Salacia as eager for sexual intercourse and of the connexion of Venilia with a nymph or Venus.
Müller-Deeke and Deeke had already interpreted the theology of Neptune as that of a divine ancestor of a Latin stock, namely the Faliscans, as the father of their founder heroes Messapus and Halesus. Sharing this same approach Fowler considered Salacia the personification of the virile potency that generated a Latin people, parallel with Mars, Saturn, Janus and even Jupiter among other Latins.[46]
“…like trying to see the Moon from the bottom of the sea” — What a lovely phrase and image, and how apt!
P.S. Transiting Pallas-Athene (warrior goddess) is in retrograde mode now at 25 Pisces and will conjunct Salacia and sextile Sedna before the month is over!
be
Hi P. Sophia,
I take it you weren’t in this dream, so although it affects you on some personal level, I am thinking (feeling) it could apply to a more mundane pespective, therefore let’s look at the 3 primary “symbols” this way:
*Neptune = higher dimension of love, faith, etc.; or escape; or end of a cycle; and/or water
*Damsel in distress = Earth
*Man with gun = mankind in negative yang/masculine posture
*Neptune running could mean “running out of time” as well as avoidance of violence.
*Neptune seeking to protect beloved feminine (Earth) does not behave in a customary fashion; not by “defending” but by providing cover in a watery place.
*Feminine/Earth does not seek a defender but rather stands up to Man with gun knowing she can seek revenge on Man in other ways.
*Unseen maps hidden away in the depths (of consciousness), the larger one for Neptune (higher level of consciousness) is “precious” and ancient; the smaller map for Earth also precious and they fit together.
Since Saturn and Jupiter refer to the societal cycle in astrology, and because they are making a sesquiquadrate aspect to one another now, and because this aspect is in the same family as the square and opposition, it represents some form of conflict. The sesquiquadrate (135 degrees) brings dramatic occurrences into being that demand immediate attention, work and practical action. Recently, transiting Mercury and transiting Sun have been conjunct Saturn thus activating this aspect he has with Jupiter. This represents some conflict(s) within societies. Transiting Neptune in trine to Saturn is supportive of Saturn’s resolve to keep structures intact (earth) as is Ceres (Earth Mother) in Cancer, while Jupiter is dealing with a square from Venus in Virgo, an opposition from Pholus, the G.A. and others, and also conjunct Chaos. In other words, society, and therefore the planet and the people and other living things on it are in crisis.
Your dream could be working to make you conscious of some aspect of the present crisis; probably something to do with water specifically (pollution or animal extinction) or emotions in general. Transiting Sedna (a defender of all sea life) at 23 Taurus is sextile transiting Salacia in Pisces so that might apply to the influence you were under at the time of your dream. I would also note that the Moon’s North Node is moving into orb with them from Scorpio, with an exact trine in January. In addition, there is a New Moon Solar Eclipse on November 13th at 21 Scorpio 57 that will oppose Sedna in Taurus and trine Salacia in Pisces.
I hope this gives you some direction in learning the meaning of your dream. Thanks for sharing P. Sophia.
be
Len!
Thank you letting me know. I cannot believe this! I just went to wiki to see if I could find some info on Salacia and found the number, 120347 Salacia. So, I went to astro.com and plugged it into my natal chart, under other planets, like the good student as you explained to me.
1. I did it right. Yeah! Frist time pulling up chart on my own without you walking me through it, and
2. I cannot believe what I found there Salacia on my natal chart sits at 18 37 in my 2nd house Scorpio right next to Neptune at 15 05. Is this unusual? Now, I am very curious where it was two nights ago when I dreamed about them. Mercury is currently transiting I saw at 20 or so, so maybe two nights ago it was conjunct Salacia. This is amazing to me the connection and also that they were getting my attention in the unconcious through dream, communicating with me through Mercury?! Seriously, astrology is literally moving in me!
Has anyone else had a similar experience? I know Huffy said she had something similar in meditation with Arachne.
Now the question… what does it all mean?
Arachne in conjunction my Sun in my solar revolution, I won’t end up like a spider? , I prefer Pandora, box magic…
I programmed the last quarter moon for tomorrow that I dedicate you Len, I would burn the enscen so that the light illuminates your life
Good weekend to all 🙂
Spiders, and tigers and bears, oh my! Checked my bank account today – things are grim. Forget the mask and snorkel, need a diving bell…
Thanks Mysti dearest! We *are* a bit connected – I thought of you when I posted the spider comment! I haven’t eaten corn, wheat, anything with gluten for the past year, but I’m not always careful about checking the labels of what I eat, and I drink the water and breathe the air (as Tom Lehrer sang…). Will check out the link you posted asap. xxx
Hey Huffy,
Might just be my filter right now (which I have to say, is *clogged* with data…) – but your spider might be the effect of GM foods on your gut. Spider = “Weaver” = rewoven DNA. Turns out that monsanto corn/soy inserts a gene into your gut flora that *persists* and disorganizes our digestive processes. Big time.
You and I are a little bit connected (^8*, so my research ~responding to the exasperated nudging of my friend Viviane Vives~ may have hit the etheric.
I know that these foods have been outlawed in most of Europe. I am not sure the status of Italy. And it turns out that glycophate (Round Up) *is* in most of the fresh water throughout the planet. Oh yay.
Here’s the link for the most comprehensive look I’ve seen so far…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ao_Hs2nNQDA
P.Sophia: i’m not qualified to evaluate dreams, but the Trans-Neptunian Object, Salacia (currently retrograde at 24+ Pisces) is named after Neptune’s spouse. Been watching that object for a while. It’s apparent motion is very slow (especially now) but it shows up at interesting times.
Huffy: Thank you for your additional (and helpful) comments.
Hmm. Just checked out spider. Don’t think it’s about Arachne, more like fears, mother…. better out than in. I so recommend this great website, which I’ve posted before, http://dreamhawk.com/
‘live life large’ mode. Nice, Lyd, yes.
Oh boy. Got goose pimples when i read your comment this morning, Be, and on re-reading Len’s blog. Last night I went quite deep in my meditation, and an image of a large spider appeared inside my body, and is still with me. These visions usually only come after days of meditation, on retreat. Thanks Be and Len.
“Limestone becomes marble in the depths of the Earth. Caterpillars become butterflies cloaked by a chrysalis. That’s how Scorpio energy usually works. During the solar tour through Mars’ ancient dominion and the modern realm of Pluto, the dark is illuminated for about four weeks every year. Most of the time we can, and do, wear a blindfold or mask for the duration, but Neptune and Arachne will encourage us to see and be seen as never before.”
I cannot believe your article found here Len. I know the transit is upon us, but I had a Preview via the subconscious in a dream last night. I was startled awake at 3:30 AM PST and upon waking made aware it was Neptune calling… and in the leading, starring role. Here’s the dream:
Neptune was being chased by someone, or dark force? The foreshadow part is lost now. But from where I remember, interestingly he was speeding along at the speed of light. Coming fast from the other side. Was not running, but moving like yes, a planet to get away from, yet also heading to rescue some other myth-archetype, (not sure who?). It was clear ‘she’ was his partner, betrothed, love, wife, really his other half, who was the most beautiful, strong, powerful women a heroine as well (anyone please fill in the blank. Which planet could this represent??). Neptune arrived just in time and found her there hiding under the water in the crags, a cliff house in the rocks, just as a man pulled up and was trying to shoot her from above, below the water with a ray gun that was filled with some electrical power, blasting dynamite.
What drama! Neptune was trying to protect her from the attacker, (she may have appreciated) but clearly she did not need or heed his safety, protection or support. In fact she yelled out and tempted the pursuer without any reserve, or fear. Her bravery was the feeling I remember most of her. Neptune slipped off in that moment, off down to a small room further below and quickly his mission I saw was in taking out and putting together two maps and hiding them under some papers on the shelf there. I believe they offered some kind of directions of them both. His own map was very antique and precious and hers a bit smaller in size, but precious as well. It felt like they were treasure maps that he was hiding away under some papers in the self below. The attacker ran out of ammunition and the scene paused there. But we knew he would be back for her. Still, it was realized the bigger danger was not in her pursuer, but in who (?) was yet in coming…in search of Neptune.
I see some connections. But would love to hear any ideas be? anyone?
Huffy: You are very welcome. It means a lot to receive such words from somebody with your feel for the water signs.
be: Once again, you are the master we bow to. Talk about a fine weaving, you do it on a level unfamiliar to me. Thank you so very much.
Sarah: You are most welcome.
Miss S: Welcome to Planet Waves (as memory serves, this is the first comment i have seen from you). It is a joy to know that someone of your eloquence found my service acceptable.
Lyd: Thank you for your kind and generous words.
Len, I had been wondering when you would gift us with the solar Scorpio. And here it is in an astounding visual. You have this extraordinary capacity, a poet’s gift, to thread words into connection, release and then allow us to expand. I can really feel that. Many, many thanks.
Huffy: ‘snorkel’ indeed! Water everywhere, and with these ‘new’ arrivals, my Scorp sun, moon and chiron are in ‘live life large’ mode.
So well said, Len. Sun in Scorpio does have a way of bringing light to what has been hidden and stinging in the dark, and with Neptune washes away illusions that kept us there. We are so conditioned to attach defining words to our self-ness…”I am this or that or something or other” but the inclusive life gives no such definitions or descriptions. It merely says, “I am.” Here and now. Included in all-that-is. I lack nothing because I am all. I am not separate from what I need. I am complete. I am one with all that is and therefore complete. To live the inclusive life is the conscious control of thought you speak so eloquently of, the relentless pursuit of life-giving truth rather than giving into untrue thoughts of “I am lacking in this way or that” or even the other side of that coin, “You are lacking in this way or that.” It is no longer being unconsciously willing to identify with those who subtract life. It is to say that we all matter; we are all included.
We must participate in this now more than we ever have before in order to grow and evolve. It’s like growing pains to realize we were conditioned to believe the lie that what we need is outside of us somewhere or in someone else. To take responsibility can be a painful thing. But I am…not that pain either.
To hold onto the truth that I am One with All-that-is, All-I-need, is to control my reality and to take responsibility for my emotions, my feelings of pain or lack and let that lie dissolve into connection with All-that-is. Thanks Len, as always, for your wisdom and light.
Thank you, Len. Thank you too, be.
I hear the veil between the living and the dead is as thin as a spider’s web on All Souls Day and Night. I’ve also heard various takes on the Arachne myth; sometimes she is a young girl banished from humanity and turned into a spider for challenging the goddess Pallas-Athene with her fine weaving. Other times Arachne is just another aspect of the goddess herself. What could it be about this weaving that is so prized?
Arachne (or the goddess Pallas-Athene) provides the skill of stitchery for the weaver to make a thing of beauty and usefulness, just as she provides the warrior with a strategy he weaves to ensnare, escape, deceive or defeat his enemy. Sometimes these skills and strategies are so fine as to seem almost invisible; sometimes they really are invisible. We can’t actually see a “feeling” but we can sense them and we can see how they affect someone else. Tightly woven emotions will act to protect what needs to be protected, like our belief systems, and if Arachne weaves the finest of the fine and then she trines Neptune who dissolves all barriers, and then the emotional waters are brought to our consciousness by the Sun, then we are truly, as you say, at an historic time.
Probably the myth of Arachne being at odds with the powerful warrior goddess Pallas-Athene came about when the feminine myths gave way to the masculine competiveness – kill or be killed. Perhaps it was a way to divide the feminine against itself. The thing is weaving is still considered a feminine trait; connecting one stitch to another to make a whole. Most things woven, whether beautiful or not, are designed to either protect something or someone, or to just be admired. If we can only heed your advice Len, if we can perceive this new consciousness as a release from bondage, we will see what was once invisible – the prize of a new connection to the Universe, just as surely as a spider will replace her shattered web.
be
Yes – I’ve been feeling this for a while now, coming and going like the tide, just out of reach. Thank you for this gorgous piece, Len. I have the sun and much of my chart in water signs. My mask and snorkel are ready…