By Len Wallick
Its a busy sky, literally and figuratively.
It would do us some good to start with the literal for a change. Weather permitting, make some time to go outside at night, soon. Tonight, if possible. Just after sunset, look to the West for an impressive lineup. Close to the horizon and to your right is the biggest challenge, Mercury. If you are lucky enough to live on a high spot away from city lights (or on the beach) you just might be able to make it out. Binoculars will help.
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From there, follow a diagonal up and to the left. Straight ahead and unmistakeably bright is Venus. Very near Venus for the next night or two, is the bright star Regulus. Keep looking up and to the left to find Mars and finally, Saturn. With Venus, you can’t miss. As for the rest, remember the diagonal sight line and the fact that planets don’t twinkle.
Just before dawn in the East, look towards the south to find Jupiter, nearly as bright as Venus. To the left and close to the rising Sun, the crescent Moon.
There, didn’t it feel good to get away from the computer for a while and see the real thing? Now when you look at today’s chart, a few things could fall into place with a different perspective.
And perspective is what today’s astrology seems to be calling for. There’s a lot going on and sorting it out is a challenge. Sort of like our collective and personal lives. Starting with the big stuff. This weekend is the total solar eclipse most of us will not see. Most of us are bound to feel it, however. It concludes the cycle that started with the partial lunar eclipse that took place on June 26.
The eclipse cycle takes place in the midst of the cardinal t-square which is getting tighter by the minute. Uranus is retrograding back towards the Aries point. In doing so, it is approaching its fifth and final exact opposition with Saturn which is now direct in the final degree of Virgo. Pluto meantime, is still retrogressing in the fourth degree of Capricorn.
Uranus’ impending shift from the first solar house to the twelfth corresponds thematically to the Moon’s two-week journey from the north lunar node to the south. Going from dharma (Aries and the north node) to karma (Pisces and the south node). Thus the continuous aspect of the eclipse cycle is linked and assimilated into the t-square continuum.
That about sums up the big picture.
Among today’s ephemera, your itinerant correspondent has chosen two for our focus. A mysterious yod and a defining sextile.
One would propose that we first shake it up and bring the boys to the yod. At 29+ Virgo is Saturn, as previously mentioned. At 28+ Cancer is Mercury. That’s the sextile (60 degrees of separation) that forms the base of the yod but NOT the defining sextile referred to in the previous paragraph. That comes later.
Both Saturn and Mercury are separated from Neptune (at 28+ Aquarius) by 150 degrees. That obtuse angle is called a quincunx. Thus is formed the precise (to the degree) shape of the letter “Y” that gives us the word “yod”. But that’s not all. Splitting the sextile between Mercury and Saturn and opposing Neptune is none other than our trailblazer, Venus at 28+ degrees Leo. This makes the yod take the shape of a peace symbol, or if you prefer, a chicken foot. In astrology some people call it a boomerang. Still more, Venus is in close conjunction with a centaur planet called Elatus. Neptune, of course remains in its long functional conjunction with Chiron.
The opposition between Elatus and Chiron started in 2003, when Uranus moved into Aquarius. It will continue until 2015, about the time Uranus has finished exacting the last of seven cardinal square aspects with Pluto. It is almost as if Uranus is involved in the yod. Not in a spatial sense, but rather a temporal one. It is also as if the the opposition of these two centaurs has been waiting for this moment to come in the middle of their long polarity, to act as a scaffold of accretion. Einstein was right. Space and time really are the same thing.
Complex and mysterious enough for you? Unfortunately, there’s no time to lie down.
But we can take a few moments to break it down. First consider that this aspect will evaporate very quickly. By the time of this weekend’s solar eclipse, Mercury will be in the fifth degree of Leo, Venus in the second degree of Virgo, each off on to a new adventure. So, there is something very much today, very emphatically now about this one. Blink and something is gone.
As with all yods, the sextile between Mercury and Saturn is supportive. Heartfelt words encouraging contraction and structure, perhaps. Neptune, at the apex, is under pressure, or at the very least, feeling an itch. Chiron is close enough to feel the instability or discomfort. An adjustment of some sort is in order. Given the ephemeral nature of this aspect, timing would seem to be a crucial element.
Throw in the tight Venus-Elatus conjunction and appreciate the meaning of the word exponential. As the pickle in the middle of the sextile between Mercury and Saturn, it would seem to be an alienating influence, shifting the basis of a supportive relationship from understanding to faith at best and mutual attachment at worst.
In opposition to Neptune at the apex, however, Venus-Elatus could be the saving grace. It would seem to say that the resolution to the confounding combination of complexity and pressure is to bring an intuitive focus and an instinctual awareness. Chiron, if anything, enhances this message. Stop trying to make sense of it. Feel your way through it. Become aware that your body also has wisdom, not just your mind.
This does not mean that you shut off your mind. Neither does it mean that you react instead of responding. What it does mean is breaking the rigid constraints of how we have been conditioned to think and release the attachment that reinforces that conditioning. It is not easy. It is like jumping out of a flying airplane. It’s topsy-turvy time.
That’s where the defining sextile comes in. Unlike the yod, not for a day but an unusually durable aspect that is now applying to the degree. An aspect that will exact precisely with the timing of the total solar eclipse. An aspect that will remain functional for days after: Sun in Cancer sextile Mars in Virgo.
Two days ago our wise and profound blog auditor, Mystes, hit the nail on the head when she implied that it is a time when the feminine assumes the role of inseminator. Don’t let that confront you — that’s conditioning talking. Don’t let that alienate you, that’s attachment talking. Inhale the idea and hold your breath for just a few seconds. Give it a chance. Put the receptive in play as the active. See what happens. Why not? It’s not reckless, it’s creative. Now go back outside, look at the planets in the sky.
Blessed be, indeed.
Offered In Service
Ouch, Linda. Did sveral kids’ funerals some years ago. A quiet place sounds like the place to go. Take care.
Karma to dharma….. moon has stopped making sense:
We buried a 6 month old baby today who had been murdered by his au pair.
this woman had 17 years of nannying experience and shook bubs to death.
this happened in a european country where the parents were locked up for 24 hours as the prime suspects before the law let them go (guilty until proved innocent) and focused on the carer.
This was the hardest funeral we’ve ever done.
leaving Sydney tomorrow for 6 weeks of retreat at a buddhist monastery.
not a moment too soon.
In the thick of all this, my husband is starting into his second Saturn Return because he will be 58 this November. He didn’t “follow” his heart for his first Saturn Return and everything I have read about the second return says that will make this second one more difficult for him. I am along for the journey as his life mate and I wonder how the events that are unfolding in the sky now will affect him as he goes through this second Saturn Return.
Len,
You always say the right thing at the right time. Always.
I “feel” this stuff but what I feel is a feeling of being stuck in time and place like a butterfly stuck in heavy mud; unable to fly free.
I feel like I should be writing but I don’t know where to begin or what I am supposed to say; just a wordless scream welling up inside with no way to voice it or even any idea of what it is. Tension and rising energy but no idea what to do with it. My life is so grounded in “regularity” that the mystical stuff passes over me wreaking havoc with my intuition and feelings but changing little in the way I live my real life. I am a melodious string on a harp that gets strummed by a passing careless finger only to fall silent in a while.
I don’t know how to free myself nor what to do or where to be free. Perhaps too many years of being in a limiting situation of my own (and society’s) making has “trained” me to be blind to the solution. I keep hearing “just do it, visualize it, you will be successful” blah-blah-blah but these things have no resonance in my real life because I have no clear path before me and the reality of my family obligations uses up my disposable energy.
Eclipses etc. just raise the energy to a higher level for me but except for the 2001 Summer Solstice eclipse in Cancer that got me pregnant with my son, eclipses and Yods don’t seem to change my everyday living situations or experiences that much. They just vibrate me like a tuning fork. I feel like I should be doing something…but have no idea what.
That’s how the skies feel to me right now. I am not lamenting or sad…just vibrating and slightly frustrated.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnlTrq6wLf0
While I was looking at the chart for this yod (which aspects a few of my natal planets) I noticed that mars (near vesta) is forming another yod aspect to my natal planets that I didnt catch reading the ephemeris…. oh how these aspects love to hide from me!!
Len you are the best!
len… everytime i read you, your treasury-ness becomes more and more intense.
on an odd note… i’m in a play right now that i started calling “the male freedom play” a few days ago. male-female relations are shifting. this play has been a real bugger to do. the lines i lose are the ones that i realize i need to give. i love the playwright, love the actors, love the process… see where it’s all coming from… yet, i resist. the lines i drop are the ones i need to deliver with the most energy.
beautiful and strange. but your writing keeps it on a wild track somehow. thank you. and thank you to pw, generally. these three weeks have been ALMOST impossible. but there’s a grounding that’s offered here that nudges me through…
thanks Len!
hypnotic,
Thank you for your question.
Given that this particular boomerang yod involves four planets and two centaurs, there is no “exact time”, rather there is a period of time when the one-degree orb will hold. Roughly, today, from say, late morning UTC until shortly before midnight UTC.
can you tell the approximate time of the yod aspect? i felt a noticeable shift …
1greenguizer, darlin’ … it was “Mia Feroleto” who had the inspiring story and is opening a gallery. ( I *used* to be a gallerist, but closed my last gallery in 2006. ) Brava, Mia!!
M
Thanks Be. I’m planning on celebrating quietly, right through to the eclipse. Bless. xx
So things really are upside-down; it’s time to stop following our human gurus and other fakirs and instead follow our hearts, trusting our inner gods are networking to ‘all that is’ within and without and say without prejudice or offense intended ‘you popes, archbishops, sufi masters, yogi masters, channels, kings, presidents, sheiks, on your crumbling pedestals and clay feet can all go ‘f’ yourselves,’ in the loving and generous spirit of telling them just to go have a good time; that we need them no longer to take responsibility for our lives, that we are finally ready to step up and decide our ‘ability to respond’ ourselves and take any and all consequences good or bad for it without blame. This can all be summed up in the saying, ‘Awww, fuck ’em if they can’t take a joke.’
Listen, I was wrong about the aspect of progressed U.S. Venus to Mars. . . it’s supposed to be a sextile, not a square. Progressed Moon square Mars, yes.
Hazel F, >>>>> Happy Birthday. . . take a couple of days to enjoy it, and thanks for the handle of “crablettes”. Like shebear says it’s a good one!
Jere. . . . no more hiatus, we miss you. You’re always in our thoughts (and hearts!)
be
“Neptune, at the apex, is under pressure, or at the very least, feeling an itch.”
Oh Len! (she said with a laugh) – I am under so much pressure right now it is literally unbelievable. The essssssplosion within is trying soooo hard to turn itself into something constructive, not destructive. Oh my yes. I can’t remember when my whole being felt so ready just to essssssplode.
Ok then, I will proceed with many of your kind and wise words tucked into my super-girl belt as I fly full-power in a super-wo/man kind of energy release circling the globe a few times feeling the non-continuity of time/space:
“What it does mean is breaking the rigid constraints of how we have been conditioned to think and release the attachment that reinforces that conditioning.”
Oh yes – and a first practice flight-session includes no longer having to ask permission to Be.
xo
Len,
There is so much going on in the sky that it would be easy to miss important messages if not for your keen eye and perception. I so agree with you (and mystes) that this seminal moment in our present Zeitgeist, where the feminine energies predominate and dictate our sensibilities, is a major turning point. Sometimes the clues to this process are subtle and sometimes they overwhelm. And they are world-wide.
Becoming conscious of the transformation. It’s not the same time for all of us, but for me it was learning of the rare “eclipses” of the Sun by Venus that come in pairs 8 years apart from one another. The last one in June 2004 began an awakening of the collective, and the next one in June 2012 will complete a cycle of initiation regarding the feminine principles. Each lunation, especially the eclipses, can be seen to further the understanding and acceptance of these principles. The lunar eclipse last month had the Moon tightly conjunct Pluto in a pivitol point in the cardinal t-square, and as you point out, in this weekend’s solar eclipse, Venus is sextile Mars, while Vesta is conjunct Mars.
Looking at the U.S. chart you can see the triggers initiating change in attitudes, behavior and beliefs in our culture. The long passsage of transiting Neptune to natal U.S. Moon, with transiting Chiron and Jupiter joining in to raise awareness and promote understanding; the recent progressed U.S. Moon square natal Mars and conjunct natal Neptune, and the progressed Venus conjunct natal Chiron, opposite natal Juno and square natal Mars. The process of change can be beautiful and it can also be painful, but the end product is transformational, illuminating, and balancing; hopefully for all beings.
be
I cannot wait until nightfall to turn my gaze to the skies above and away from my computer. Thank you for the invitation to do so Len. When I read it, I felt myself attune to the Planets and let their energies surround and encourage me.
Mia, I loved your beautiful and inspiring letter. Thank you for growing awareness among the “bigwigs” and for creating a better world where soul work becomes our primary focus. May we all take a leaf out of your book and let the creative juices flow.
Speaking of creative juices — Victoria/1greenguizer, your dream gave me goosebumps. Made me think of what Myst is referring to, with the female captain steering the “ship” into uncharted waters, carefully paying attention to the signs and acting accordingly.
May the fertilizing begin!
Mystes,
Thank you for your wonderful contribution, inspiring story and wonderful upbeat attitude in following your bliss and opening an art gallery to serve your community.
I wish you many blessings for that…
I feel I am a kindred spirit to you.
Myself am an Artist/shaman, storyteller, world traveler, herbalist and critter care person- have a small farm
on the Olympic Penninsula and tend medicine herb gardens , horses, sheep, chickens, dog, cats, and am starting to teach a plant spirit medicine/ earth stewardship program in my community where I can bring many threads I have been doing for years into a weaving of a wholistic program for my community. My greatest wish is to inspire people to find and follow thier own inner authority when it comes to healing and whole-ing thier lives. How to find joy in themselves and in life no matter the circumstances -which includes experimentation, theater, art, play etc..
Yippy Hoorah – It’s party time…
Wonderful as usual Len…
I had an interesting dream last night that is a symbolic representation of some of what you said.
I was aboard a research ship and the ship was traveling through a very dangerous and narrow passage, in the background a twilight starry sky was a blood red moon that had positioned itself over the sun with visible solar flares reaching out around the moon during this eclipse.
Aboard the ship was a woman captain- which ia an extremley rare thing in the marine research fields- This woman was giving orders to the bridge to move the ship through this passage -without any maps since this was an uncharted passage -she was on the bow watching the signs and then would give the orders to move a certain direction via radio to the bridge….
THank you-
Victoria
Dear Eric,
I am about to renew my subscription to PW.
I wanted to respond to Len’s post this morning and do not have time to
try to find my password, so please add this to his responses.
In my chart, I have Regulus conjunct my Pluto at 28 degrees Leo, Venus
at 20 degrees Pices. Venus is exalted in my chart and has been a bit
challenging throughout my life. However, slowly but surely, I have
seen the flowering of seeds planted over the past several years. Like
millions of people throughout the world, I have had my share of
difficult times recently. What is interesting to me is that every
single day, no matter how daunting or large the need might have been,
the Universe provided EVERYTHING I needed to care for myself and my
many animals, all rescues. My way of looking at the world has changed
dramatically and I no longer worry. If we follow our dreams,
responsibilities, voices, we will all be in our own personal flow and
be actively co-creating. There is no question in my mind that this is
true.
Over two years ago, I began a serious letter writing campaign to
members of the US Senate, anyone I knew with their own foundations,
Paul Krugman at the NY Times, Warren Buffett. I wrote to Buffett
several times, asking the he, Bill Gates, George Soros and others like
them reconsider their giving. I asked that they give away principle
as well as interest and in the face of possible nuclear war, what good
would it do to hold on to all this wealth? I wrote that there was too
much suffering in this world and that even part of one day of
suffering was too much when there was such wealth around us. I wrote
that giving away half of what we had would help to balance the wealth
in the world and provide people with what they need on a daily basis.
Then, we could all turn to our spiritual lives, in whatever way was
personal to us as individuals. As you know, they announced a campaign
several weeks ago to engage other billionaires to do exactly this.
Michael Bloomberg has already committed 75% of his wealth. I know in
my heart and mind that I contributed in some small way to the growth
of this idea, even if only on an energetic level.
I am about to open an art gallery and am an artist myself. As
artists, we are the visionaries. Life is Art and Art is Life. To be
an artist is to take on the role of shaman for your community and your
world. Every person on this planets needs to connect to the
creativity that exists in ourselves. No matter if it baking the best,
most beautifully decorated cake, or writing poems, or gardening,
whatever brings you joy, fulfillment and a sense of feeling empowered
by bringing your vision to fruition, now is the time to do it. Do it
as often as you can, daily if possible. Feel what it’s like to create
beauty around you. Now is the time.
There are two tracks running. We can focus on all that is wrong or we
can actively create. In my mind, there is no choice.
Mia
At the end of his interview on “Inside the Actors Studio,” Francis
Ford Coppola told the student audience to go out and change the world
through art. Our moment is NOW!
Len,
Exactly.
Myst