By Len Wallick
Layers down underneath it all, a certain dwarf planet named Haumea has been in the thick of our astrology all year. Today, as a result of alerting elbows from both an erudite reader and the planet Mercury, we will finally give it some overdue attention. But first, a little foreplay.
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Over the weekend the Mean North Lunar Node entered Sagittarius to stay for about a year and a half. This is one of two auspicious hypothetical points where the Moon’s oblique orbit intersects the Earth’s ecliptic to the Sun. This is a point that will not return to Capricorn until nearly two decades have gone by. This places the so-called south node in Gemini and begins a new era of eclipses and relationship themes between two opposing, volatile and dynamic mutable signs. It should be interesting. It will certainly be a change.
While we are on the subject of things lunar, let us not forget that this is the seventh consecutive Monday of 2011 that is taking place under the auspices of a cardinal Moon. Late overnight or early this morning, depending on where you are, Luna moves into the sign of Cancer where it will oppose Pluto about 12 hours later. That aspect, in turn, resonates with the ambivalence and polarity that Valentine’s Day has come to represent.
It would seem that there is room for a full range of feelings as regards to this ostensible holiday, which, unlike many, is purely social with no discernibly consistent astrological background. Whether you take it in blissful indulgence, blithe indifference or passionate offense, this year’s combination of lesser luminary, epochal planet and an axis so recently vacated by the nodes would seem to offer room to validate your feelings whatever they are. The key is to exercise restraint in expressing those emotions. After all, we have a long week ahead of us. You would be well advised to save your juice.
One reason to conserve your energies is the big astrological event that comes on Friday. That would be a Full Moon. Not only that, it’s the fifth consecutive Full Moon in the last (or anaretic) degree of its respective sign. This time it will be in Leo with Luna conjunct the hypothetical point called Isis-Transpluto. The Sun will, of course, be in the last degree of Aquarius for this opposition of the luminaries. In Sol’s Aquarian company will be Neptune, Mars and Mercury all in close attendance. We will get back to that in the blog this coming Thursday.
There is plenty to keep us occupied in the meantime, but it all seems to have a common theme. No matter where one looks, that prevalent melody seems to have something to do with Saturn. Aquarius and Capricorn, the two signs traditionally ruled by the Ring-ed One, are packed with major and minor planets. Like the recent spate of Monday cardinal Moons, this serves to remind us that we are in a transitional period that amounts to a continuum in the longer run. By now we should be familiar with what that is.
Even though Saturn’s role in the cardinal T-square is long past, it seems that we are living in the continuous legacy of a day very near Halloween of 2009. That was when the Ringy Thingy exacted the first of three 90-degree aspects with Pluto. This started up the whole series of cardinal point events that will carry on with Uranus and Pluto resuming their own series of square aspects next year. All through that time, the implicit association has been with the concept of relationship. Since that fateful day, the perspective has shifted to and fro as if to explore the various potentials and perspectives of how one interacts with another or with others.
Today to keep us on task is Mercury, representing among other things, our thinking. Acting from Aquarius, the sign of our collective consciousness, the Fleet One forms a flowing air trine with retrograde Saturn bringing fresh air to its tenure in Libra. Tomorrow, the mercurial breeze features what has long been Saturn’s near-conjunctive companion operating under the radar, the dwarf planet Haumea we referred to at the beginning of this blog. So, finally, we are down to the strokes of the day.
Somewhere along they way, Saturn seems to have acquired a reputation. Perhaps because the phenomenon of this particular object returning to its incidence on a natal chart has, along with Mercury retrogrades, become one of the most commonly dreaded astrological milestones. In both cases, the popular interpretation says a lot more about our relationship to fear than to the actual event. Then, of course, there is the balancing role that the Ring Master plays to the expansiveness of the other trans-personal planet, Jupiter. It’s a tough and unpopular job to say ‘when’, but somebody has got to do it. In the long run, it’s not bad news to encounter limits and boundaries. Without them, everything would ultimately become diffuse and exhausted. With them we acquire definition and identity. Indeed, it would seem that one of the most valuable lessons of our time is for all of us to become more like Saturn while still retaining our compassionate humanity. This sort of balancing act takes us back to to the subject of Libra.
The location of planetary exaltations is one of most ancient parts of astrology. They go so far back as to be — like Homer and Abraham — beyond historical recovery. The fact that Saturn is exalted in Libra therefore conveys a very old wisdom. It tells us a story that ideas of balance, limits, boundaries and detachment are just as important to relationships as the abundant passion implied by Libra’s ruler, Venus. This combination is demonstrated by the fact that the first day of Libra marks one of the two days every year when the Sun is positioned directly above the equator, transferring the abundance of its radiation from one hemisphere to another in a perpetual cycle of green reciprocation.
Enter our dwarf planet, Haumea, named after the Hawaiian goddess of childbirth and fertility. It was discovered on December 28, 2004 just two days after the Asian tsunami that still reverberates in our memory, and not named until nearly 4 years later. Much like its namesake, which also paradoxically represents the inert element of stone, it is as enigmatic and elusive today as when we first became conscious of it. That’s the most important thing to remember. Above all things, this object is still in the process of being defined in both the astronomical and astrological sense. Just so happens that defining things is among Saturn’s specialties.
It is almost as if Haumea has been waiting for the other shoe to drop; waiting for Saturn to complete the process of converging identities. A process that was started and repeated by Venus, as recently as this last August. That moment has of late been delayed — a postponement that will prove to be discernibly appropriate.
Haumea is located way out there in the Kuiper Belt, a collection of asteroid-like objects in the same general vicinity of Pluto and Eris. It takes a long time to go around the Sun — about 283 years. Because of that, it’s apparent motion has carried it less than seven degrees from where we first became aware of it. It is therefore of and about Libra, taking a great deal of its identity from and bringing a fresh renewed perspective to that sign. Last month it was within a degree or so of exacting a first conjunction with Saturn since its discovery. Then, both objects stationed retrograde within a week of each other. Thus, the inevitable was put off until just a day before the Sun next stations over the equator on its way South toward the tropic of Capricorn.
You read that right. The first conjunction of Saturn and Haumea since Haumea’s discovery will take place on the day before the Libra equinox. That, dear friends, has got to represent some sort of synchronicity. It is where we will pick up again tomorrow.
Offered In Service
hahaha.. that’s funny Eric
Thank you Len
I always think I’m the simpleton and Len is taking the complex and analytical approach.
These days I type with two fingers and keep glancing at The New York Post.
Okay, the Post horoscope.
Kelly,
You really added something by brining the sibling relationship in to play. Thank you.
As regards to Isis-Transpluto, what is it indeed? Like the lunar nodes and Black Moon Lillith it is a hypothetical point that has a great deal of synchronicity going for it. Hopefully we will be able to say more on Thursday.
Eric
Re:”My take on Saturn-Haumea is to get clear on the role of fertility in sexuality…psychological/emotional roles played by sperm and eggs with some understanding of biology, some respect for the creative process, and some pragmatism”
The myth of Isis and her brother Osiris is that she had to collect all his mutilated body parts but the ‘phallus’ was missing, so she created another.
There is a theme.
Is about male sexuality and what is it saying?
Len/Eric
Re:South Node in Gemini and Isis Trans-Pluto
Gemini is Mercury ruled;the impetus of the 3rd house is where we learn to communicate first with our siblings. Isis is about sibling relationships.
Is there something that ties this up with Saturn in Libra and Sun, Neptune, Mars and Mercury, in Aquarius.
What is Trans-pluto?
Many thx
Len, Len, Len, wot evah do you mean: “a simpleton approach?” Now, now (and using Irish vernacular here) “Will ya catch yerself on, will ya?” 😉 You know I’d be in the endless dark loop, spinning my internal wheels if it weren’t for the great interpretations woven here at PW, courtesy of your expert mind, that help me shift gear.
So on this day for pondering all things ~Luvre~ (and I’m definitely throwing in the love of self here) a big *heart*felt thank you once again to you and to Eric (who I hope will have a rockin’ good time at his PolyParty tonight…….which I know he will!) and for throwing my way that extra special reason to be howling with Luna as she conjoins natal Haumea on Friday.
Also to rlfrdm, (whose post I hadn’t caught earlier when I wrote), it sounds like those *waves* are captivating us both. Extra neat!
shebear,
i’m sure Eric deserves his share of the credit, not so my own simpleton approach. Sounds like you did most of the work yourself and should take credit for same. By the way, natal Haumea in the last degree of Leo sounds impressive and would seem to convey some unique perspective.
rlfrdm,
Please accept my affirmation and validation for the heavy lifting you have evidently done as well.
This is neat. I am moved to tears of joy and relief actually, reading both Len and Eric here. Yesterday I finally got hold of the recording of an astrology reading I had done about three weeks back and I listened to it all day long, attempting to digest and absorb its many lessons. I am going through some heavy duty psyche shifting and without a doubt it’s painful and challenging a lot of the time but despite that, I want to engage this process as fully as I possibly can.
I awoke this morning consumed and overloaded with thoughts and wonderings about all things Saturn, Neptune, Mercury and Venus, floating around in my noggin and I felt quite disconcerted and somewhat at a loss. So what I found written here today not only helped me sort out those queries but my natal chart got lifted into not just a 3-D view but more like a multidimensional realm of such boundless fascination that I want to hop onto an astro-surf board right this minute and shimmy on out there, riding the waves and dancing with the universe.
Wowee. 😉
I know I can’t really *transcend* my natal chart per se so I work hard at understanding and unlocking its many keys. Today’s post gave me such timely insights to all those pertinent questions I awoke with and it’s enthralling. Then to be introduced to Huamea, whose position on my natal chart is where the Full Moon is set to take place this Friday, and which today transits alongside Saturn hovering over my M/C only serves to reaffirm for me that a call to surrender and relinquish anxieties is the way to go. Nothing else will work so I must commit each morning and each evening now to learning those healing methods needed to quell programmed fears and to replace them with the necessary love and courage.
These days how can I not take heart from the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia and unite with them in their evolution? Watching and listening over these past few weeks, I paid close attention to their speech patterns and how the protesters described how they were compelled to finally act and revolt. Notably there was one line used by quite a few people where they stated that they’d lost all sense of fear because they realized they’d nothing to lose any more by challenging the political status quo. They weren’t afraid of prison and more especially weren’t afraid to die. Their abject lives and lack of fear forced them to shrug their shoulders and toss caution to the wind and once they connected with others in the same mindset, off they all went to march. Wonderful.
rlfrdm,
Sounds like a dream i had last night. Please excuse any rumbles. None are intended.
Hi guys. This is really interesting. I read Len’s piece and then the conversation between E and L, and I felt the growing rumble of unmistakable connection between this and something that happened for me in the thick of a very traumatic experience last week. In the middle of the emotional chaos I had an experience of riding the wave and having total clarity. I was able to see what was real, what was important, and what was not important (surprise, surprise, and SURPRISE!), most of it having to do with relationships. There was such wisdom in that chaos. Sadly, the clarity went back out with the wave; I need to try to recollect what I knew then…
Thanks to both of you!
SP
I would say, let’s keep repeating ourselves!
Saying the same thing different ways is very helpful toward figuring out what we’re saying at all.
I think we need to get a good working definition of “dwarf planet” down on paper, too. This all starts with Eris, and the “is Pluto a Planet?” controversy.
For those curious about that — here is an article from that era. Oops I will post that soon, Anatoly is fixing a directory error. Brb
Ok here is the story of how dwarf planets came into being —
http://www.planetwavesweekly.com/resources/pluto_astrology.html
Here is the prior week’s edition — link may not be working yet —
http://planetwavesweekly.com/dadatemp/378037837.html
Eric,
Thank you for the benefit of your superior erudition, integrity and eloquence. This especially in view of how much work you have been devoting the the best annual edition ever. The subject of Haumea in relation to Libra and Saturn is rich enough so that, when it is Haumea’s turn to trined by Mercury tomorrow, there will be the the opportunity to explore further (as promised) without unecessary reiteration.
I would say simply that Saturn-Haumea is part of our get real moment in relationships, or our available get real moment. Part of what Saturn is doing is helping us see and experience ourselves beyond the appearances of Libra. Those appearances relate to the structure implied by Capricorn (and the stressful adjustment of the Saturn-Pluto square). Part of the facade is the structure of relationships, for example, family pressure to get married.
Haumea is a fertility goddess. More than that she seems to represent the momentum of fertility. Obviously sex and relationships are about more than making babies, but we’re conditioned to do two things: one is to treat sex as if it were exclusively about making babies; the other is to ignore this fact entirely.
My take on Saturn-Haumea is to get clear on the role of fertility in sexuality, as a result and as a driving force. I think we need to balance out the psychological/emotional roles played by sperm and eggs with some understanding of biology, some respect for the creative process, and some pragmatism.
I would also note that Haumea is in an opposition to the first of the dwarf planets, Eris. Eris to me represents the personality chaos that we experience in our era and which leads us to attempt to simplify things by getting into relationships. It’s like we say, “Oh! Now I know who I am! I’m in the person a relationship with you!”
That of course only works for so long. We remember all the other parts of who we are that may not fit into the relationship; but our relationship structures generally don’t accommodate that.
Faster-moving Haumea opposes much slower moving Eris through the 2012 era and beyond, beginning right in the midst of the Uranus-Pluto square that we’re hearing so much from (revolutions in the Middle East, for example). It is a personal dimension of our current historical phase of revolution.
http://serennu.com/members/aspectsearch.php?b1=136108&angle=180&b2=999001