Now that we have the Sun joining retrograde Mercury in Scorpio, you may be starting to notice a sense of astrological undertow — a kind of visceral pull toward the feelings, experiences and ideas Scorpio is known for. It’s a pull that can lead you to transformation whether you want it or not. Saying ‘yes’ to the journey can take on many shapes and flavors; right now, one version relates to the way infatuation can function like a drug.
The configuration shaping up involves Pholus and Ixion in Sagittarius. We encountered them earlier in the week, in an aspect related to co-dependency and our culture’s alcohol abuse. On Friday, Venus joins the conversation by conjoining those two minor planets in Sagittarius.
Since Venus is the planet of love and Pholus can take a small cause and spin it into something bigger, Venus-Pholus in Sagittarius has the potential to help any groovy love-and-sex adventures to really take off. They might even feel (or be) a bit ‘cosmic’.
Ixion, however, puts an edge on things. Signifying ‘anyone is capable of anything’, Ixion could heighten the more cavalier ‘gotta be me/gotta be free’ element of Venus in Sagg. While not a bad thing in itself, it could be challenging for many people — whether experiencing it in a partner (fear of losing them) or within oneself (guilt for needing/desiring independence).
What happens, though, when we look at Venus-Pholus-Ixion in a broader cultural sense? Through that lens, it can begin taking a shape that’s closer to the addictive behavior patterns (co-dependency and alcoholism) that came up in Tuesday’s Daily Astrology column. In this incarnation, we get ‘infatuation as a drug’.
How often have you noticed yourself or a friend getting obsessed with the chemical-emotional high that comes with new relationships, until it starts to look like drug-seeking behavior? How many people do you know for whom a relationship just doesn’t seem ‘right’ or satisfying or ‘fun’ once the bloom is off the proverbial rose — and then it’s back on the hunt again?
There’s little or no chance in that game for genuine intimacy — being honest; vulnerable; communicative; receptive; generous; open about fears and shortcomings, as well as desires and joy. Chemistry only gets us so far, which can be scary. That fear coupled with the sugar-high of infatuation can keep people trapped in behaviors and patterns of relating that block them from true connection (both with others and within themselves).
We even see a version of it in our collective infatuation with famous people. Culturally, we can’t seem to get enough of news about them; we emulate their style; we imagine them to be ‘dream versions’ of the regular people we actually relate to. How can a ‘real’ person hope to live up to that?
As mentioned, with Sagittarius, there is the potential for ‘cosmic’ or deep spiritual contact with someone. But generally speaking, our culture does not encourage or support that, choosing instead to promote myriad ways of masking its potential.
Some people can crack through that static via mind-altering substances. Again, Pholus’ association with alcohol (and by extension, similar substances) suggests a double-edged sword: where’s the line between taking enough LSD to find enlightenment, versus burning yourself out chemically? Where is the line between accessing and masking inner experience?
As these themes intensify approaching Friday, the Moon conjoins Jupiter in Cancer — and they’re making an awkward angle (quincunx) to Venus-Pholus-Ixion. The Moon rules Cancer, and Jupiter is all about expansion — so it looks like cravings for family, comfort, home and related themes will feel very important on an emotional level. Those things could feel at odds with what the Sagittarius grouping is bringing up for consideration.
But Jupiter rules Sagittarius: the two sets of urges are more connected than they seem at first, though you may find yourself swinging between them. Remember that Mercury is retrograde in Scorpio — and in the same neighborhood, degree-wise. If you can allow yourself to feel it all and follow the different threads back and in, who knows what you’ll learn.
With Eric Francis
Thank you, mimik. Prompted by your comment ‘BUT the salutary, positive, and transformational expression of this same cosmic cluster = anyone has the power to turn our cosmic catastrophe around.’ I had a look at Ixion and Pholus in my natal chart. I found Ixion in the last degrees of Libra and then this starting playing in my head….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9X_ViIPA-Gc
Some serious Neptunian stuff in that video….but in the lyrics…true passion.
Well, that answers a few, no a lot more than few, questions, and i’m imagining quite a lot i haven’t asked yet. Best start writing a list. Thanks, once again, nilou
One big addiction we all have is to fossil fuels, and it is driving us toward cosmic cataclysm, with Jupiter in Cancer expanding the tragic toxicity (Scorp) in the ocean (Neptune/Pisces) that has the ocean on track for dying in our lifetime.
Neptunian/Uranian ‘Klingon cloaking devise,’ here, would include the child slavery in Africa used to mine the precious toxic metals for our cell phones. Also, coal, the worst of the fossil fuels, feeds our electronic devices; Facebook’s servers, alone, emit the carbon of a country (and Google just hooked up with ALEC, the corporate group that has designed governmental policies and given mandates to candidates for 30 years, now). We really do not see at all that every click is a click on cataclysm and injustice, but think that the Internet is this amazing wonderful thing.
About that Ixion “anyone can do anything,” and Venus: The cosmic Venus (as distinct from our personal, societal Venus) holds the sacred cosmic balance of the whole biosphere in her loving hands. The word for “beauty” in Greece, associated with Venus, is “kosmos.”
The tragic expression of this Ixion-Pholus-Venus thing is that we are addicted to things that have the incredible power to upset the sacred cosmic balance and drive the biosphere into entropy–and the usual Neptunian veils are hiding this from us. Anyone could do something that could upset the cosmic balance of the energies on which all life depends.
BUT the salutary, positive, and transformational expression of this same cosmic cluster = anyone has the power to turn our cosmic catastrophe around.
FYI, my own gut feeling re: the long Mars in Libra — Eric’s “Mars Effect” — in place next year is the cosmos calling upon us to become warriors (Mars) to defend and protect and preserve the sacred cosmic balance of life (Libra/Venus).
miss S — thank you for fleshing out the positive manifestations of this astrology more fully! i recall experiencing a venus-pholus in Sagg last year as being very passionate, fun and loving. (it was right around new year’s eve). for sure, the positive expressions of this energy abound. given the potential for centaur planets (pholus is one) to tap into shadow material/baggage/old patterns, that often seems as important theme to focus on. but even then, the key is to focus on it from a perspective of constructive awareness and creativity and self-inquiry/awareness.
keep traveling those different roads!
Chief — for me “set and setting” is the key teaching of Tim Leary, whether about entheogens or any other experience. I think of them as the most vital boundaries that frame any unusual experience and many seemingly typical ones. For me this holds true for use of esoteric tools, sexual exploration and a diversity of other experiences.
I like the point you are making Green-Star-gazer, about losing our ability to relate face to face. What you can’t see on the above chart is that Neptune is exactly trine the Sun at this point, providing the backdrop of reality (Sun) and fantasy (Neptune). Relating at this time will be an attempt to harmonize what we are searching for in a relationship with what we are trying to escape. What’s more, transiting Vesta in Virgo squares Venus-Pholus (Ixion) prying open our discrimination faculty and provides a push back to negative desires. . . . what is it we are investing our selves (love, time, 2nd chances) in? Is it fantasy? If so, fantasy can be healthy so sorting it all out is a priority, especially since Moon-conjunct-Jupiter in Cancer sextiles Vesta and that puts family and traditions in the drivers seat for the moment.
With Moon in her home sign, Jupiter exalted in his sign, and Neptune in his home sign, all that water means lots of feelings, memories, dreams and sensitivity, which will likely trump the fiery desire to wander off the front porch which Sagittarius encourages. Vesta, on the other hand, is in reality-based Virgo and she encourages us to verify the value of the investment in fantasy.
I believe (based on “news” reports and what others say) twitters and tweets and on-line books of Face aren’t always what they appear to be on some Neptunian/Uranian device. With the holiday season giving us ample opportunity to touch someone socially via a social device (office parties, family get-togethers, etc.) and in real time and space, might take the scare out of relationship. Practice makes perfect and Vesta in Virgo would approve of that investment.
be
Along with Green-Star-gazer,
I encourage taking a look at the impact of technology on our culture. Transhumanism is well underway and our children are being coopted into becoming more computer and less human every day of the year.
I have to say I am experiencing this energy more as a connection to passion rather than something simply sexual. The passion for things I loved as a child and have in many ways denied myself as an adult in order to do what needs to be done or to keep the peace. The “I gotta be me/free” piece is about saying yes to my passions: nature, hiking, travel, music and the things I inherently bring to the world that I consider to be gifts. I have indeed made some deep spiritual/cosmic contact with a couple of people this week and it has served to reinforce my confidence in myself and what I want to choose to do and be in the world. The connections were honest and vulnerable, which felt like great strength rather than fearful. The Ixion “anyone is capable of anything” energy is playing out as confidence in my own authentic spirit, the god in me, and my gifts and natural talents. I would also say that the energy is not so much drug related for me. It is more like I am having a different experience simply because I looked in a different direction, turned my focus on a different subject. I took a different road than the one I usually travel and that has made all the difference.
Another addiction that is a two-edged influence on our culture is a very recent one: our addiction to our mobile devices. Bill Moyers has a brilliant interview with Sherry Turkel on the subject here:
http://billmoyers.com/segment/sherry-turkle-on-being-alone-together/
we are rapidly becoming slaves to the screen.
I have often wondered if there is a connection between this addiction and the declining interest in relationships and sex we are now seeing in Japan among the young. In some cases over 60% of young people report having NO interest in or experience of sex. We are loosing our ability to relate to one another in person, in real time, face to face. When we loose our ability to connect to our outer world, especially to Nature and each other, then we are in real peril.
Natally speaking, I have Ixion in Scorpio in the 9th house, and Pholus in Gemini in the 4th house. Somehow, I feel like current Ixion and Pholus transits relate to my natal planets. This is the first time I’m striving to understand my Ixion and Pholus. I make an effort to not get carried away with my emotions by sticking to acquaintances and friendships for instance. And I guess frequent state-wide trips are a good way of reconciling the desire to be close to home, and the desire to travel great distances, which is what I hope to do with the job I am striving to get.
“…where’s the line between taking enough LSD to find enlightenment, versus burning yourself out chemically?”
Dr. Leary taught us that set (our intention) and setting (the context of our experience) were the key factors in determining the quality and nature of our journey. While he was teaching within the context of LSD explorations, I believe his teaching is as valid in relationships as it is in our spiritual quest. Who here hasn’t been “burned out” in romance? How many have suffered in the hands of false guru’s and prophets?
“Love is the drug that I’m thinking of…”
– Roxy Music