Beyond the Elusive They

Today is Thursday, Nov. 3, 2011. No sooner did Venus and Mercury, newly in Sagittarius, square Chiron yesterday, but today they immediately moved on to form trines with the cosmic light socket, Uranus in Aries. Trines are a flowing aspect between signs of the same element. In this case that is fire – the element of combustion, ignition and initiative.

Those three words just brought to my mind a rocket lifting off, but in the shift from squares to trines, the movement is closer to a catapult. The squares with Chiron created the tension of needed movement, kind of like when the arm of the catapult is pulled back and momentarily secured while its operator takes aim. Now that we see our targets, courtesy of Chiron raising awareness, we can cut the attachment, transmute the tension into volition, and cover some real ground.

It’s been an interesting week following Venus and Mercury. In Scorpio, square Neptune, they cast our desires and judgment into doubt and a dreamy sort of idealism. Moving to Sagittarius and squaring Chiron, they brought our attention to any form of denial we carry about our desires. Now comes the really cool part: the current trines are an opening and opportunity to actually do something about this awareness, rather than simply to consider how lovely it all is. Neat, huh? The universe is actually waving us along the runway with giant light-up batons so we can achieve takeoff with our new, ignited understanding.

If you’ve been reading the Daily Astrology feature each day, you may be wondering about that Mars-Neptune opposition you’ve been warned about. It’s still there and in effect — meaning discernment is still the name of the game as you choose your actions. But in this configuration, that discernment takes a slightly different role. Discernment means asking, ‘Does this (whatever this is) help me?’

In the context of two personal planets making fire trines on the heels of their squares to Chiron, the question is whether hesitation helps in the face of such a wide opening. Mars-Neptune can manifest in the form of looming, vague fears. But paranoid hesitation does not help us. Letting fear take over and make us panicky does not help us. Drowning our motivation in wine does not help us. We have a juxtaposition between opportunity and the fear of action. For many of us, fear of acting on our awareness has won out so often in such subtle ways, we barely notice it anymore. When we consider stepping out as our true selves, hesitation is reinforced by a wave of panic. Or we finally do step out, and then second-guess ourselves.

‘Everyone will hate me’, we think, as we contemplate taking a public stand on an issue. ‘Why did I tell that stranger at the party so much about myself? He must think I’m a fool / a slut / desperate.’ And so on. But really, who are these people who may judge you? Do you actually even know that they will? And anyway, if you act on your values and speak your awareness — if you’re actually living your life — isn’t that better than simply wishing that you were?

This theme of the collective inhabiting our emotional sphere gets magnified by the Moon tonight. It’s in Aquarius all day, which keeps some level of emotional detachment in the equation. But at about 11:40 pm EDT, the Moon makes a conjunction to Neptune. This sets off the Mars-Neptune opposition, giving it a tangible field of reality. It puts this movie of hesitation and fear versus opportunity and initiative onto a screen where we can see it a bit better. Maybe you’ll see how you fit into society; maybe you’ll see that the elusive ‘they’ in ‘what will they think?’ disintegrates into Neptune’s fog when you unleash your catapult. If ‘they’ aren’t really in the way of your stepping out as yourself, what is?

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