The Sun enters Aquarius at 4:52 pm EST Saturday, symbolically challenging the one-sided assumptions behind traditional relationships. Just hours before solar Aquarius begins, Mercury will set the stage by advancing into the realm of fixed air first, initiating a supportive atmosphere for fresh ideas. It will be the Sun, however, that sets the tone of confronting custom by initiating an opposition to Leo, the sign it rules.
At the same time, the Sun aspects two asteroids: Panacea and Karma. Panacea and Karma will be aligned exactly on the Aries Point in an opposition Saturday, with Panacea in the first degree of Aries, and Karma in the first degree of Libra. (The Aries Point refers to the first degree of Aries, where ‘personal’ and ‘political’ intersect in a dynamic relationship. This effect and the term ‘Aries Point’ extends to the early degrees of all four cardinal signs: Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn.)
Back to the Sun. Since the Sun rules Leo, and Aquarius is its opposite sign, classical astrology assumes that the Sun is in detriment, or exile, while in Aquarius. Behind that tradition is a one-sided assumption.
Classical western astrology originated largely in the Northern Hemisphere, where this time of year actually looks and feels detrimental to the Sun. The symbolism derived from the Northern Hemisphere’s perspective doesn’t work for the other side of the equator, where solar energy is very strongly felt right now. Yet there is a wisdom in the conventional relationship between the Sun and Aquarius. The trick is to make that wisdom equally applicable to all earthly beings, regardless of location. That can be done.
The Sun can be considered the source of day and light everywhere on Earth, regardless of the time of year. It can also be symbolic of consciousness for every being on Earth, regardless of location. No matter where you are, the Leo Sun can thus represent the relationship of your consciousness to the self it rules, and the Aquarius Sun can symbolize the relationship of your consciousness to the collective it may serve.
This year, as implied by the Sun’s relationship to Panacea and Karma, the beginning of solar Aquarius serves the collective by illuminating how to balance traditional social relationships.
As noted, on Saturday Panacea will occupy the first degree of Aries and Karma will occupy the first degree of Libra. When the Sun occupies either of those points, all beings on Earth simultaneously begin a new season in equal relationship to the Sun as source of light and an emblem of consciousness.
Any other object occupying either of those points emulates the Sun according to its nature. Similarly, any two objects opposing from those points will emulate the ideal of relationships as the source of equality.
The trick is to balance the natures of the opposing objects. That can also be done. For nearly any asteroid, the name nearly always reveals its nature.
Less than a year ago, Finnish astrologer and minor planet authority Kirsti Melto observed that, true to its name, “Panacea is a healing asteroid. It represents cures for all kinds of problems and difficulties. It symbolizes the philosopher’s stone, the legendary alchemical substance which would enable the transmutation of lead into gold.”
Panacea on the Aries Point thus represents a new season when everybody on Earth is in equal relationship to it as a source of cure and an emblem of healing. A sextile from the newly Aquarius Sun implies that collectively, we may serve to support Panacea’s initiative. But across the way, Karma is starting a new season of its own.
Karma the principle represents the means by which the Universe balances cause with effect. On the first degree of Libra, Karma the asteroid represents the principle repeating itself for another cycle in quest of balance. An air trine to Karma from the Sun entering Aquarius indicates how, collectively, we cause the cycles to reiterate, as a wind would turn a mill.
Yet, the opposition form Panacea implies that continuation of the cycle need not perpetuate an imbalanced tradition, and may as an alternative start a new one. It is possible to conserve the wisdom of the previous tradition and transmute it to better serve the ideal of relationship.
The Sun will enter Aquarius on Saturday just as it has every year for as long back as anybody can remember, but this year it will challenge you to participate in taking traditional relationships to a more equitable and balanced level.
Offered In Service
Len is available for astrology readings. You can contact him at lenwallick [at] gmail [dot] com.
(except he does still like me)
Hello Len.
Here’s my ha’penny worth – karma panacea aquarius, the jealousy is human context.
Some of it is really different understandings, different mindsets using the same words/ideas from different places.
One thing that happened to me yesterday (exile, ugly, outside): a big day for me. I accept that I am often outside etc – I just fit in less often: and yesterday I went with a colleague to buy a caravan and realised that we are friends in his eyes. He dropped me off to wait for my train so I went to a bar, and ran into the Dad of a former classmate of my son. He was lunching with a colleague so I joined them, and in the discussion the colleaque said he had heard of us and there is a lot of respect for us in the locality (we are small time farmers), and I said, I wasn’t sure, I had understood we weren’t liked at all. And he said. No it is jealousy actually – ‘why them and not us’. And then I came home and in discussion with my sweetheart, in passing, I said the arguments we have (from my side) are based on facing the fact that he no longer likes me, not that I don’t like him (which is where he thought I was coming from).
You can go along for years ‘rejected’ by something when in fact it is completely not true, or someone else’s stuff that has nothing to do with you, or is a consequence of something you have done and were quite happy with even if it had unexpected consequences elsewhere.
I’m still hanging in there for jealousy as a symptom of pain where you are vulnerable.
?Murderous rage of one sort or another may tag on the tails of jealousy but is quite a different problem needing continual concentration and tracking until you hunt it down and call it by your own name (some aspect of yourself), embracing it as yourself so that it is no longer projected in any way but part of the fabric of you where it can contribute to your wholeness, integrity, and independent thought/not being able to be bought. The Wizard of Earthsea maps this process admirably!
lots of love Len from this happy day
pam
Strawberrylaughter: Your comment was posted rather later than you sent it, so please accept my thanks for your kind words now. It is a joy to know my service was useful for you.
Mia: Thank you for your cogent observations, intelligent perception and informed perspective. All very pertinent and welcome.
Being an Aquarian myself I look forward to tomorrow when the Sun moves into the sign of Aquarius. I am hopeful that it will bring a bit of relief for everyone.
It remains to be seen whether or not people can break the bad karma in relationships. One party will often give more in any given relationship and then be the receiver in another circumstance. Rarely are relationships balanced to the degree where everyone benefits equally.
I found the discussion interesting on Eric’s topic of jealously the other day, especially when tempers flared and name calling began between people who know each other only by posting a comment on this blog. And this among people who are on the path, so to speak. How much more intense are communications between people who have an emotional connection. Guilty as charged, myself, from time to time.
Lance Armstrong is kind of the poster child for someone who has created patterns of relating year after year based on a lie. What kind of karma is that? My prayer is for all the politicos to be exposed to the same extent. Then, perhaps, we will all become less reactive.
recognizant: Thank you for your question. The intended time frame is the moment when Sun enters Aquarius this weekend, with aspects from the Sun setting the tone for its tenure in Aquarius. However, you make a very good point of there being a connection to the Sun reaching a point aspected upon its ingress to Aquarius. When the Sun enters Aries later this year, it will invoke its entrance to Aquarius this weekend. Please, does that work for you? If not, please keep asking untl we get satisfaction for you.
Can you define the time frame? Is the alchemy to start tomorrow when Sun in Aquarius sextiles Panacea? Or do we have to wait until The Sun hits the Aries world point on March 21.?
Thank you Len. Finding PW at the beginning of last year and regularly reading all the enlightening posts has been hugely helpful for me and my process, as I am sure it is for many other readers too,
be: Thank you once again for being so kind, generous, and for bringing so much extra for us all to learn from and enjoy.
Lizzy: You are most welcome.
beleclaire: Thank you for your informed perspective, Your air trine sounds powerful. i sincerely hope that your work and devotion are paying off at last.
Lunesoleil: Thank you again for the benefit of your knowledge and for the hyperlink.
marymack: Your thoughts regarding Aquarius are very valuable and welcome.
Finally, heartfelt thanks to Amanda for helping me pull this piece together.
I’m with you all on this — the traditional astrology suggestion that the Sun is in detriment feels off … and when I get out of my head for a moment (the old air sign standard) I can feel a connection with the open expanse (the uranian energy). Maybe this is what that Aquarian container pours forth — the truth of the mix.
Just a thought.
mm
ps: beautiful piece I shall re-read
Yes the Sun in Aquarius is one of my favorite in the zodiac sign, so I have Uranus at the North node is the door that I open on my evolution path
I have already addressed the asteroid Panacea in my article about the therapist of the future.
http://lunesoleil23.wordpress.com/2012/06/30/les-therapeutes-du-zodiaque-dans-le-signe-des-poissons/
(copied the link and pasted in the translator to see in English) 😉
Thanks Len to it highlight in your article, its conjunction with Uranus me please enough. It is my Neptune sextile natal and I tend to work with cosmic energies…
Very nice evening at all
Thank you Len for this eloquent and interesting piece.
I am taking it all very personally with a Sun at 0 Libra and a NNode at 0/1 Aquarius. I have worked consciously and very hard in the last 9 years clearing a LOT of layers of destructive karma and trying to really heal in order to be fully incarnate and present in Life. Then at last I can re enter the every day world and have some truly genuine and positive connections and do some meaningful work.
There have been many false dawns but reading about this line up, and following on from the intense New Moon, I think this may be the release point for me.
Think I will have a graduation party. On Saturday
(thanks be )
Oh my God, Len. I have been sending this question into the ether for weeks. Panacea and Karma. As always, your readings are impossibly elegant. <> Thank you for listening.
Len, be, thank you.
I really like this idea of yours Len; that we need not continue an “imbalanced tradition” (Karma on Aries Point in Libra) but that we could even start a new one (Panacea opposite Karma from the Aries Point) at a higher level of consciousness (Sun = Aquarius, trine Karma, sextile Panacea). If Panacea can alchemically change lead into gold, it surely could go a long way in transmuting some of the same old, same old karma going round and round like a windmill. A little bit of consciousness-raising could go a long way toward improving how we relate to one another. We, as individuals (Aries) will presently have this powerful philosopher’s stone in our hand and with the consciousness provided by the Aquarian Sun’s collectively-oriented sextile, we could put a big dent in the bad karma of relationship that haunts us cycle after cycle. As a group, we could – thanks to the trine from the (consciousness providing) Aquarian Sun to Karma, bring awareness to the repetitious behavior that gets us nowhere. It is hard to see the Sun in Aquarius as “in detriment” when you put it that way. Just another perspective; an all for one point-of-view. I love it!
Think I will sign a petition. On Saturday.
be