The Sun returns to Aquarius at 10:52 pm EST Sunday to illuminate what makes us one. Last year, Eric shared his own illumination of Aquarius as the sign of “Some Of Us Here,” an interpretation which has no doubt been verified by your experience. This year, aspects the Sun makes upon ingress to Aquarius will extend upon Eric’s epiphany and demonstrate how, even among the divisions humans create, there are also connections in common to creation itself.
This year, when the Sun enters the fixed air of Aquarius, it will immediately complete a precise (to the degree) grand air trine with dwarf planet Makemake (retrograde in the first degree of Libra) and centaur object Asbolus (likewise retrograde in the first degree of Gemini).
What Aquarius, Libra and Gemini have in common is the ancient element of air. What the Sun, Makemake and Asbolus have in common is how they correspond to issues that address both the social divisions and earthly connections among us. What they all have in common at the inception of solar Aquarius, 2014, is the grand trine aspect.
Ordinary trines connect two objects that are in the same degree of two different signs that share the same elemental identity — fire, earth, air or water. Such aspects happen frequently, corresponding to ease and flow.
Grand trines are less frequent. It takes three objects to play, which does not happen every day, much less on a day when the Sun shifts auspiciously from one signature to another to complete the circuit.
A grand trine is a circuit because for every elemental identity there are three signs that share it, equidistant from each other on the zodiac circle. Because of their equidistance, signs that share the same element in common constitute the points of an equilateral triangle — an ancient symbol of connection.
Hence, objects forming a grand trine symbolize grand, sweeping connections as well as ease and flow regarding the nature of the connecting element.
Both in tangible reality, and with astrology, the elemental nature of air is rather sweeping in and of itself. As those of us in North America are finding out, the actual flow of real air easily connects us to the other side of the Pacific Ocean, carrying radioactive particles from Fukushima, Japan, in a few days.
As with reality, so in astrology. That is how the Sun’s first aspect upon entering Aquarius may be expected to precipitate with some sweeping connections for you. It is further possible to anticipate the nature of those connections by corresponding the three objects involved in the grand trine that distinguishes the inception of solar Aquarius this year.
The Sun is as straightforward as can be. As Robert Hand put it (in his book Horoscope Symbols), the Sun is “day, light, and consciousness.” Hence, one corner of Sunday’s grand air trine, the precipitating corner, is indicating that your part is likewise straightforward — it’s appropriate to be awake and aware. If you can manage to keep your mind, eyes, ears and heart open as Aquarius receives the Sun, you will receive the message.
That’s easier said than done, however. By dividing ourselves into “exclusive groups and subgroups” (as Eric put it nearly a year ago), we lose sight of our connections with each other and creation itself. By way of restoring that sight, Makemake and Asbolus complete the grand air trine.
As Eric has mentioned more than once, Makemake corresponds with how things got to be the way they are now. As regards to human beings, we got to be the way we are, for better and worse, precisely because it is in our nature to group up.
A single human against the world is inherently a hurtin’ unit. Community is the reason we got this far. The trait of forming groups with a common interest can also get out of balance, creating an us-against-nature mentality that undermines any human community.
Makemake returning to Libra (symbolized by the balance-beam scales) for the first time in literally centuries indicates the time for balance has come. For no matter how big or how strong any group of human creation, the connections to creation itself must remain open and continue to flow, lest disaster ensue.
That’s because we are all made of the same stuff that constitutes any other being, and indeed any object in the sky. Most fundamentally among that stuff is carbon — the stuff of life.
On the eve of a new Planet Waves annual edition (The Mars Effect) making its debut, we are reminded of how a previous annual edition (Small World Stories) connected carbon with the astrological meaning of the centaur object Asbolus used by many astrologers today.
As Small World Stories informed us, the name “Asbolus” translates as “carbon dust,” and carbon in its dustiest (or molecular) form is common to every form of life we know. Because a single carbon atom can form four bonds with other atoms or molecules, carbon is the means of connection from which organic molecules are built, and the means from which life can flow as mortal beings flow in and out of the world. It is also the basis of our connection to each other and all of creation. It is a connection that is never less than essential no matter how we group up.
From that connection come the greatest truths that make us one. We all come here the same way. We all leave the world the same way as well. Through the air that flows over the land and seas, the greatest distances and most powerful separations between some of us here and others of us also here are rapidly closed. It’s not only by the transmission of radioactive materials but also in how the unbalanced atmospheric quotient of carbon (generated by an us-against-nature mentality) has put all of us here in the same boat of global warming.
It is those truths you should be conscious of when the inception of a new week and the inception of solar Aquarius coincide. If you can do that, just that, the rest will easily flow. It will easily follow how all of that which makes us one will amount to nothing unless you can do your conscious part to be among the some of us here who are setting an example for all of us here: by finding a way every day to really and actually be one-with.
Offered In Service
Len is available for astrology readings. You can contact him at lenwallick [at] gmail [dot] com.
marymack, be, wandering yeti, hermionesotter, Jann, P. Sophia, and nilou: Apologies for the week-long delay in acknowledging your kind words and thanking you for how your contributions have given all of us a wider, deeper perspective on solar Aquarius (now in progress). There has been a lot to contend with this last week, but my appreciation for your comments is nonetheless sincere and deeply felt.
when i feel myself scattered like a burst cloud or shattered like a falling glass pane
let me remember your name, oh Grace, that holds me as it holds all things.
when i am called from stillness to move with your rhythm, oh Love,
direct my will, call me, guide me that i may be with you in the pounding of your heart.
when i rush thoughtless, be with me, oh Patience,
steady my course in the storm of uncertainty,
nd when i falter, oh Power, stand by my side,
nourish me that i may step steadily.
if i should fall into forgetfulness, my Memory, remember me:
bring me back to beauty, balance, and harmony
that the song you have sheltered for me shall be freed
and that my heart shall sing aloud.
and may all that have ears to hear be gladdened,
and all who have not ears to hear be granted the insight of their own wisdom
that they too shall awaken to the joy that sweeps through all ages.
Reconciliation, ‘Peer’, fellowship…
Len thank you for putting an exclamation point on this theme that’s already been building this week. “What makes us one” absolutely we may feel blessed we are flowing into this equalitarianism (balance) of this Trine circuit air.
Seems, and felt like Sun in Capricorn was very much a time of foundation, roots stuff…inner work. Of listening to the promptings, unwavering in trust, and knowing when to take direction, was own hand pulling through from within. I think Venus being retrograde was also an aid in our further developing this innate, soul skill.
I look forward to Aquarius where it feels like we will begin to put these qualities into possibilities, of practice -out there in community.
Len you mention ancient element, I think of it’s wisdom and power from, and I am brought to our present second week of Epiphany: John 1:29-42. What we are experiencing here and feel today is no different than the past. Our humanness, the struggles, the questions we ask, of security, the pain and fear, where to follow…are the same, and carries over time. It asks a question, gives a name, but requires our recognition of, is actually what connects us. And in our answer to is what brings our hearts through to the same truth forever, today.
I just noticed with the timing of this air trine and the Sun’s new cycle into Aquarius, Uranus finally shifted on a degree from Aries 8 to 9. This may also be a fortunate advantage to our asking and receiving. If we stay open and aware through all our senses we should look up and reach out to understand the help that’s there.
Uranus Transit Sabian Symbols/Degrees:
9º Aries: A crystal gazer.
10º Aries: A teacher gives new symbolic forms to traditional images.
Be thanks also for the good luck news regarding Phlous’ move. And everyone’s comments all! : ).
Thank you, Len, for what I deem to be words of encouragement in seeking to find some sense in the current condition of humanity. Illuminating (Sun) connections (Asbolus) instead of the current (MakeMake) selfish state of separation and exclusivity should lead to understanding and solutions as Eric described in the December 20 newsletter (“Let Me Recognize the Problem So it Can Be Solved”). My gratitude to you.
JannKinz
Thanks, Len. This sounds really exciting. We would appear to have a unique opportunity to understand ourselves as a species, with unprecedented clarity. Almost like finding another ‘missing link’ fossil.
The Gemini position of this trine is my Moon. Natal Asbolus opposes my Venus in Aquarius. Maybe that’s part of why I’ve been fortunate enough to experience a rebirth of a lost art, at least lost to me. Also maybe it’s part of why I had to lose it. While attempting to wield music as a weapon in a contest where I was trying to prove that I have the right to be a musician I trashed my gift.
Asbolus on my Moon lately has felt like meeting parts of myself I thought were dead but they were only twisted up and hidden. Un-twisted they’re just my cast of characters. Un-twisted their expressions are part of the tribe of my consciousness instead of their twisted expressions where their parts are played by other people and situations that push my buttons instead of un-twisting them. Moon ruling Cancer midheaven, Asbolus helps me find the true vibration at the center of a seeming semantic paradox.
I think this also says something about the strength of Lunar vibrations lately. Inviting the sounds of Tori Amos into my body by singing along with her recordings is part of the vibratory frequency rattling loose the sticky spots. I’ve always enjoyed singing in my higher register, but it used to be a fear of growing up. Now it’s just the sky over my earth as my low range is as deep as my high is alta. I love how it feels when my body makes higher sounds men aren’t supposed to make. Following Tori’s path thru the music, sometimes an octave lower, but not most of the time, she leads me on a path I wouldn’t have found on my own and I discover more things I didn’t know my voice could do.
How is this for the tribe and not just me? I’m a musician. The flexibility of my voice allows me to adapt to a menagerie of characters as well as give tangible expression to my inner reality where I feel myself as an androgynous being who gets confused by expectations to ‘be a man’. Strengthening my vocal access to my female characters makes their wisdom easier for me to access on the fly, gives me more options than I had when I felt like I had to be in control of situations instead of myself.
It appears that Makemake’s inspiration and Asbolus’ insight (thank you Phil Sedgwick), already at their 0 degree mark, are influencing your thought processes Len. It is welcome news too that you bring us because the Saturnian Capricorn Sun can be draining. Thirty degrees of that is pushing my limited tolerance.
I’ve been wondering about another centaur about to move to a new degree; he leaves a degree that is square the U.S. Sibly Neptune found at 22+ Virgo and I suspect when that happens there will be less confusion over “who did what” in the news media, or at least less discussion of the confusion. There are two prevailing “stories” which seem to confound both news people and government people regarding which underlings are responsible for what did or didn’t happen in those stories, a very Capricorn-type concern. Pholus’ move to 23 Sagittarius shortly after the Sun enters the sign of Aquarius should put things back into a less punitive perspective, at least here in the U.S., once the U.S. Neptune button isn’t being pushed and Capricorn’s influence is lessened. I say that because Pholus, as the myth goes, didn’t follow his instructions to reserve the special centaur wine and, without permission, broke out the wine leading to a bad scene we still talk about.
Today in the media we can’t stop talking about which underling is responsible for closing the 3 lanes of the George Washington Bridge, and even now we still wonder (thanks to a new report and a new book) just who is responsible for the lack of protection against the Benghazi attack. So much confusion and deception and so little faith (U.S. Neptune square trans. Pholus) that a change of Sun’s consciousness from Capricorn to Aquarius alone would be a relief. Even better, the Sun’s trine to Asbolus in Gemini and Makemake in Libra should unite us enough to focus on what we do right; together; as one.
I don’t imagine for a moment that the two stories will be forgotten by the news media or history, but there should be a discernible change of focus toward the future in our TV, print and the social networks provided by the digital world. Pholus will continue to get our attention in order to raise awareness, but his return (after his retro period) to the next degree of Sagittarius holds hope for less divisiveness (as does Sun in Aquarius). It’s Sabian symbol is of A Bluebird Perched On The Gate Of A Cottage. Dane Rudhyar gives us a keynote for this symbol of: “The reward which meets every effort at integration into a social environment for those [spiritual beings] who remain true to their own selves.” Bring it on.
be
By dividing ourselves into “exclusive groups and subgroups” (as Eric put it nearly a year ago), we lose sight of our connections with each other and creation itself. By way of restoring that sight, Makemake and Asbolus complete the grand air trine.
Dear Len,
It is rare indeed that I read one of your pieces and NOT find a pearl or two (or three) to carry me through the day(s) … and, sure enough, Len, I GOT MY PEARL today.
The Aquarius thing (tribes, etc) has been tricky for me esp with my natal Sun/Merc and ascending in Aquarius (1st house) along with Chiron in 0 degrees Aqua (12th). I have been hyper-fixated (fixed air, you say?) on the chiron as I try to work out my painful relationship to “family”; and now I come to experience my natal chiron with this grand air trine ontop, with the sun adding the light I’ve been searching for.
I look forward to the illumination that comes from this transit with gratitude to you for the illumination you have provided here today.
Blessings to you, Len, and to all who visit this site.
Mary