By Len Wallick
For an unusually long time, there has been a large, rare and extraordinary collection of planets in Aries. By this time next week, some of those objects will be following the Sun into Taurus. Starting last night and through tomorrow, the Gemini Moon is taking a sextile census of each member of this cardinal fire stellium while it lasts. Now is a good time to look back at the what and how and also consider what now.
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The precise definition of a stellium will differ depending on where you look or who you ask. In general it’s considered to be a close cluster of planets, usually in one sign or house. It happens every once in a while and brings a lot of focus to the energy signature of the host sign. With Aries, the unavoidable theme is self and the particular collection of planets has been emphasizing an unprecedented opportunity for self awareness.
It’s easy to understand how the outer planets can remain clumped together for a long time. Some of you may remember the Aquarius stellium a couple years back. It consisted of Uranus, Neptune and Chiron, each one appearing to move very slowly from our perspective. Once they had come together, it took a long time for the small differences in their relative apparent speeds to result in a separation.
It is unusual, however, for the faster moving, so-called “personal planets” (Mercury, Venus and Mars) to stay in one sign together for very long. Yet, that is exactly what has happened with with the Aries stellium. It has been an extraordinary and beautiful combination of sequence and timing.
The Aries recipe for mixing a durable and coherent stellium cocktail is slow first and speedy last, with a twist. Eris has been there for about 80 years, long enough to stake a claim as the host and hero. Jupiter joined in January after a preliminary visit last year. In the second week of March (Can you believe it? March!) the fastest moving planet, Mercury, barreled in to provide the twist with a retrograde that will ultimately keep it in the sign for over two months as opposed to the standard two or three weeks.
Uranus followed Mercury a few days later, and started flexing its shock and awe muscles as we watched a nuclear disaster unfold in Japan. The Sun clocked in, and recently, out — with its usual precision as first Mars, then speedy Venus joined the gang last month. That’s just a summary of the major players in the long-running Aries production. The whole thing has had better legs than most first run movies and a lot of Broadway plays. And with the Moon dark, you can actually see four of the planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter) without a telescope in the eastern sky just before dawn.
Now the Gemini Moon is characteristically offering us one last appreciation while simultaneously preparing us to move on. A sextile aspect is more than just a separation of sixty degrees on a zodiac wheel. It is nourishment without gluttony, encouragement without enabling, compliment without flattery. It is the first solid aspect, a foundation and reference point for the rest. As such, the next few days are a good time to be thinking, and talking, about where we go from here.
A combination of sequence, timing and diversity in the sign of Aries has brought us a rich and lengthy period to develop a foundation of self awareness. It’s not over yet, but it is time to consider what we can or should build on that foundation. The Moon is now taking us through a transition of reflection while also preparing us for constructive action. Luna is reflecting on all the things that self can be while preparing us discover all the things that self can do.
Offered In Service
“did you meditate under a tree which doubled as a backscratcher?”
haha, you’re funny, S.i.S-tah!. Made me giggle *and* made me go search for a few Winnie the Pooh quotes:
“Don’t underestimate the value of Doing Nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can’t hear, and not bothering.”
Sigh.
and:
“When late morning rolls around and you’re feeling a bit out of sorts, don’t worry; you’re probably just a little eleven o’clockish.”
heh
Now where’s the darn honey……..
apology for error: The Aquarius stellium referred to above consisted of Jupiter (NOT Uranus), Neptune and Chiron. Please forgive me.
sbear: the moon was VoC on tues….
let’s put it this way: if you think you felt my hands, you did!
you’re a mighty bear!!-did you meditate under a tree which doubled as a backscratcher?
good for you.
peace.
Well, when I read this post earlier this morning I wasn’t at all sure that I wanted to do any more …&*(#….reflecting on what’s been going down in my life these past few weeks, dear moon in Gemini! However, after an incredibly powerful meditation this morning (did I feel your hands on my head pointing me toward the light, dear stellium in sag?) I was drawn, nay forced to work on some difficult news which I had received Tuesday morning (and it *wasn’t* related to politics…!!). I had little choice but to deal with it, through some serious reflection and releasing…….wwwwhhhhhaaaaa.
I guess the moon shone some “serious moonlight” and instead of crying “let’s dance” (!) it put me to work, forcing me to flush a deeply hidden pain out into the open……….a further “reshuffling” of the “karmic order” as you expressed it, A word — and so lovely to hear from you btw. Believe me, I can relate to all that you wrote. Keep on making that space for yourself, ‘cos you know you can do this, ‘k? Letting go, once and for all. Yep siree. Let’s build something magnificent on that hard fought foundation of self awareness. We’ve surely earned the right to, don’t you think?
Len, you continue to be da man, though I must admit to finding it somewhat hard to readjust to the newer length of your posts of late. Just when I’m getting into them, they start winding down. Ah well, they still contain those pearls of wisdom that I have come to rely on to make sense of this crazy world. If it means less taxing work at your end, then that’s ok by my book….;-)
Love, love, love it! And all the comments!! No time for more…except thank you 🙂
the deck has been reshuffling re some major karmic order (family, finance, relationships). Movement into Taurus has me spot-on with all that ails me……I anticipate that this round it will continue to sooth/heal/build-anew that which before was broken, including my physical self which feels lately has been tested to its limits by the old family baggage.
Is it possible that I am now passing out of the rite of terror (re change into the future) and letting go once and for all?
Having “stuff” in all those physical “empty corners” has kept me safe since childhood.
Making space for what I truly desire ….welll, the moment is here, isn’t it?
I think I’ll go cry for a spell.
Sarah, ya – and I’m still clenched a bit waiting for the attacks; the vicious knocks at the door etc. What “didn’t happen” exists here for me on many levels. And there have been many new doors opened – I just have to remember to look for them, into them, walk through them….and remember to trust that in these other spaces there is actually love, kindness, generosity, peace. I need only look around me with new eyes.
Thanks, Len.
This is good news Len. I don’t know about the other elements but this old water-sign girl, “feels” this much Aries time is pretty much too much. I like what sarah says too. . “Life [is] defined by the negative spaces, not the positive.”
It has been exciting, no question. Will make for interesting stories for years to come, however, I will be glad to move on to the mellow earthy Taurus vibes and give my nervous system time to recouperate. For all its emphasis on the individual, this Aries period encompassed really large groups of people, even countries, what with the violent weather in the southern U.S., the middle east upheaval, the Osama Bin Ladin revenge killing to name a few. I dare say all this and more will be the “beginning” point of related cycles. Short ones like the Mars 2 year cycle and longer ones like Jupiter’s 12 year cycle will have us recalling this time of “shock and awe” in 2011. Indeed, they will affect us as individuals as well as societies, and decades from now astrologers will piece together these cycles and the fruit they will bear in order to understand how we arrived to whatever place we will be in by then.
So thanks for reminding us that the Gemini Moon can be reflective and give us an ever-so-brief time to talk and think about where we go from here. And give us a little hind-sight flexibility too.
be
prancing in the starting gate… chomping at the bit…
wait for it- waaaait for it…
I can only thing that this influence on me personally has been defined by what *didn’t* happen, rather than what did. In other words, where the potential to keep going in particular cycles was finally broken. I’ve been keeping my eye out for something, looking so hard, when it has actually been happening all along – just behind the scenes. Life defined by the negative spaces, not the positive.