{"id":21107,"date":"2010-01-12T08:30:43","date_gmt":"2010-01-12T13:30:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/?p=21107"},"modified":"2010-01-11T17:24:23","modified_gmt":"2010-01-11T22:24:23","slug":"let-go-for-good-mars-opposition-nessus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/daily-astrology\/let-go-for-good-mars-opposition-nessus\/","title":{"rendered":"Let Go for Good – Mars Opposition Nessus"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Len Wallick<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Today, Venus is separating from yesterday’s superior conjunction. Mercury is slowing down (about 1\/3 of its speed of just a week ago) on its way to the forward station. The other “personal planet”, Mars, reaches one of the most crucial points of its long retrograde – an opposition to the centaur planet, Nessus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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The zodiac you recall, is a circle. Circles are 360 degrees circumference. When a planet or event is on one side of the zodiac directly opposite from another, they are 180 degrees apart. That is an opposition. Often taken as negative and nearly always associated with a challenge, an opposition differs from a square in that it has more to do with the external (ie: relationships) than the internal. The barbell-like polarity (with us here in the middle) implies the concept of a bind. Binds can be resolved most efficiently if the pickle in the middle negotiates with each end separately. Today, we get the opportunity to be that lucky pickle.<\/p>\n

The first step is to heed Eric’s admonition from last Saturday morning. In that installment of the Cosmic Confidential Diary he discloses that one motivation of writing astrology is to encourage people to participate with the world because that is in our common interest. To which this correspondent might add his own point – participation entitles negotiation. Fair negotiation, conducted in good faith can result in balance. Balance, in turn, can make that intimidating opposition into a barbell that can be lifted to a higher level, making the pickle in the middle stronger.<\/p>\n

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Mars and Nessus involves some heavy lifting. Mars in Leo (as has been said here before) involves volatile and conditioned issues of pride. If we were to actually stop, detach and think, some of the things we are proud of might not look so good. Opposing Aquarius (often referred to here as symbolizing “the collective”) we find the attachments of pride challenged by the values of the tribe. The idea is to get a hold of our-self and negotiate with the pride issues on one side. Then, move to the other side and negotiate boundaries between me and we. The alternative is to have the two sides in conflict, pressing in on each other, leaving our pickle as more of a pancake. Which looks better to you?.<\/p>\n

Adding complexity to the Aquarius side of the opposition is the now separating stellium of planets that has been part of our astrology for so long. Often referred to as Jupiter, Chiron and Neptune, there has also been in the shadows a fourth energy, that of the Centaur planet Nessus.<\/p>\n

Please bear with as we do a quick review of the mythology. Ixion was king of an ancient tribe called the Lapiths. In short, he was bad news. To test his integrity, Zeus (Jupiter) had a cloud nymph assume the form of Hera (Juno). Ixion fell for it and got it on with what he thought was the queen of the pantheon. As punishment, Zeus arranged for the resulting child to be a centaur, Nessus. Lapiths and centaurs were anathema to each other. In other words, Nessus was the ultimate unwanted child, a living punishment for his father. That’s baggage for you. Imagine being Nessus.<\/p>\n

Nessus, in turn, attempted to make off with the spouse of Heracles, Deianeria. Human gentlemen will ask you out for coffee. A centaur’s style assumed that there was a chase to cut to. Heracles, in a fit of possessive, self-righteous jealousy, shot him with a poison arrow. Before he died, Nessus convinced Deianera to take some of his tainted blood as a potion to keep Heracles faithful. Heracles went on a business trip. Deianeria put of Nessus’ precious bodily fluids on a cloak. Heracles put the cloak on and died from the poison. Baggage upon baggage upon baggage. And you thought reality television was a trip.<\/p>\n

According to the most prominent authorities that have written for Planet Waves (Eric, Philip Sedgwick and Kirsti Melto among them), centaur planets have to do with shadow material, the baggage of past traumas that can pull us down or lift us up depending on how we handle it. The sort of shadow material associated with the centaur planet Nessus has a common theme – abuse and taking personal responsibility for halting its perpetuation. For an excellent reference check out the June 29, 2009 Planet Waves blog<\/a> by that gentleman-about-earth, Mr. Cam Hassard.<\/p>\n

So, to pull it all together, we got each of us with our baggage. Some of that baggage involves abuse. Eric has averred that we all have been abused one way or another. It would seem, from experience, that he’s right. Some of that abuse (perhaps the crucial part) took place when we were children. Because we were not individuated at that point we may well have taken that abuse on and identified with it, become PROUD of it. And because we are proud of it we don’t want to let it go. Instead, we pass it on as an unhappy legacy.<\/p>\n

Even more sadly, the collective is invested in this process and encourages it because that eases the collective conscience without having to take individual responsibility. Mars in Leo opposing Nessus in Aquarius is a chance for each of us, individually, to get hold of ourselves and negotiate with our pride in order to release attachment to the abuse we received. Then, the collective, accumulated negotiation will not tolerate or encourage such behavior, no matter the degree of entitlement, no matter the cultural or religious grounds. Hear that Abraham? Hear that Mr. Polanski? Hear that me? We can forgive. We can move beyond forgiveness to genuine compassion. It’s time, however, to be accountable in our actions. It’s time for the baggage to stop right here in Peoria, to be passed on no more.<\/p>\n

That’s a tall order. Can we do it during the course of this aspect? Probably not. But if each of us can work inside and negotiate outside, we can clean up our own act in how we interact with others (especially those possessed of less power). If we can demand that our common institutions and processes reflect our own cleaned up act (a positive and hopeful possibility of Pluto in Capricorn), we can make a start towards a future when boys and girls receive only love to pass on to the next generation. Now, that’s a myth we can buy into without getting ripped off.<\/p>\n

Offered In Service<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Len Wallick Today, Venus is separating from yesterday’s superior conjunction. Mercury is slowing down (about 1\/3 of its speed of just a week ago) on its way to the forward station. The other “personal planet”, Mars, reaches one of the most crucial points of its long retrograde – an opposition to the centaur planet, … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":537,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21107"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/537"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21107"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21107\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}