The STARCAST associated with this article is here.
Dear Friend and Reader:
Things are heating up. True, as I write, it’s currently 19 degrees here in upstate New York. But the first of five traditional points has made its way into Aries, that being Venus, where it’s close to stationing retrograde in grand style.
Over the next six weeks or so, Venus and Mercury retrograde back and forth between Aries and Pisces. In the midst of this is the vernal equinox (from Latin vernalis “of the spring”), when the Sun aligns with the equator.
Note, at this moment, it’s 78 and rainy in Auckland, 77 and sunny in Perth, and 65 and humid in Cape Town. Go figure.
It’s still Pisces time, but a lot more Aries is coming — and then we will discover what we’re all made of. If you’re on the internet, you drank the fruit punch at the door, but it wasn’t spiked with pristine Owsley acid. The trip you’re on is digital.
Venus, Mercury, then Neptune and Saturn
The focus will soon be Aries, the sign of self, self-awareness, and the somewhat flimsy concept “I am.” Chiron and Eris are lining up in Aries for their first conjunction since 1972, but a lot happens before then.
Venus and soon Mercury rolling back and forth over the first degree of Aries a/k/a the Aries Point is prescient. Two inner planets are opening up the territory for Saturn and Neptune to do something similar over the next year. That starts soon. Neptune enters Aries on March 30 and Saturn follows on May 24 — just as Chiron and Eris shock everyone and everything into some new awareness.
We will have a lot of game pieces activating the mysterious first degree of Aries, technically known as the sidereal vernal point (SVP, or position of the Sun on the first day of spring). Known in astrology as the Aries Point, events in this degree merge personal and collective influences. It feels like having a picnic on a freeway cloverleaf, which is probably how you feel here along the “information superhighway.”
(One major Aries Point event we all remember was 9/11. Another was the great recession/TARP bailout of 2008. The list goes on.)
The Multimedia, Light-Speed Central Nervous System
Now that the whole planet and everyone on it is connected via a multimedia central nervous system, there seems to be little difference between the personal and the collective — a nexus that the Aries Point radically amplifies.
The Saturn-Neptune conjunction has happened in Aries only four times since 1 B.C. and it’s never happened on or even near the SVP. So we can only surmise what this will be about.
The setup is encouraging of ensuring you have some concept of the difference between yourself and everyone else. It matters. For anyone who has ever used the term “boundary issue,” I am here to introduce you to the prime suspect: the one that divides you and everything else.
The essence of our digital times is that the personal/collective boundary has been dissolved. Privacy no longer exists, in reality or as an idea. Digital technology externalizes reality, and at the same time, the world smashes into our pockets all day and nightstands all night. And part of this effect is living with the experience of there being no privacy whether you’re communicating on the internet or not.
This is not merely a subliminal message of cameras and microphones pointed at us all day, though that is part of it. In the past, only presidents and movie stars were followed around by this many cameras and microphones. Now it’s all of us. The paparazzi is watching you!
And Then There’s the Chiron Eris Conjunction
Apart from everything else going on, we are in the midst of a planetary conjunction with equal or far greater influence than Saturn-Neptune and the rest of it.
That is the alignment of Chiron and Eris in Aries. This last happened in 1972; they occur once or twice in a lifetime — about every 51 to 55 years. The one in 1918 was in Pisces — marking the dawn of world-changing radio and radar and heralding the return of humanity to tribal consciousness.
The most recent one we find in Aries is in 1489 and then 1449 — at the dawn of the printing press: the thing that changed everything. The thing without which there would not be a book or a newspaper or a “holy bible.” We would not have countries in the way we think of them; language would be different. We would be different.
And most of all, the notion of “individual consciousness” would still be rather foggy. Everything we think we know — until the 1920s— was the product of the printing press, and that shaped the idea of what a person is. The chaos you are feeling is the vaporization of the idea of “I am.”
And now this cycle is coming to a close as we plunge headlong into the digital ocean thinking we can swim and breathe underwater without scuba gear. And whatever Chiron-Eris is about specifically for you, it represents a shock to both the tribe and tribal consciousness; a fantastic moment of I AM.
The Awakening Aspect
This is The Awakening aspect. This is the shock that ignites the world, to the extent that ignition is possible. We do not understand what being soaked in computers and electrical networks has done to our nerves.
The internet IS your nervous system, and it reaches all over the world. This is the fog and the confusion that you may be feeling; this is the source of the burnout.
Your body was designed to commune with other people, some animals and plants. You were made to walk across the land at about 4 miles per hour if you were moving fast.
You are now spread out over many thousands of miles moving at the speed of light — and you probably never think about this. But it’s THE thing to think about — that is, if you are vaguely curious about the pressure you’re under and why things seem so insane and what to do about it.
Just consider how little we know or understand about our situation. Consider how casually we are being sold machines that we are told will think for us when most people can barely think for themselves (or rather, typically refuse to do so). That nice smooth, proper-sentence, organized voice of AI is becoming the trustworthy oracle of truth and deity of omniscience.
AI voices are showing up everywhere. There are even videos featuring people impersonating AI voices, to enhance their credibility.
The Two Sides to This Conjunction
So, this transit is coming, and we will not only see it manifest but also get a hint as to how much in the past few years has been colored and conditioned by what it represents.
And Chiron-Eris is coming along with Neptune and then Saturn in Aries, which are going to have a diversity of strange effects on awareness: they are radically different energies that have a difficult time working together. Many people will be more vulnerable than ever to whatever sounds best, or tweaks them just right.
There are people who will be gently called back into their senses as Chiron-Eris comes into focus. I think a diversity of self-discoveries are possible, including the one about not being what you “identify with.” Who you are is much deeper. And maybe your experience of Chiron to Eris will remind you of that.
And there are others who will feel shocked into consciousness; some of them will resist. There is a violent side to Eris, but it operates toward subterfuge. This can be self-destructive, destructive of relationships, and directed at others.
Chiron conjunct Eris will remind a great many people that they don’t know who they are, but the awareness is more likely to come as pain and isolation. This is where the potential for violence as a self-discovery tool enters.
The Venus Factor
In local news, meaning regarding a nearby planet where the temperature is about 900 degrees, Venus stations retrograde on March 1. This will look ordinary to ordinary astrologers; if you track minor planets, it’s pretty spectacular. While it’s a bit much to write about in detail, I will cover it in STARCAST, though present the basics here.
You may be familiar with my ongoing discussion of the Family Hunger Game pattern, ultra-slow-moving and now centered at 10 Capricorn. This describes the desperation of the family situation on the planet and the disaster passed down the generations through the use and abuse of alcohol.
While I take issue with Dr. Joe Mercola’s lack of honest coverage of the virus issue, this article on the effects of alcohol has medical information worth considering. The ultimate emotional suppressant and denial drug has another very serious problem.
The Hunger Games aspect (driven by Pholus) has a counterpart in Aries, which is ultra-slow-mover Salacia. My delineation of this point starts with “the sex that is appropriate for you.”
Most of the time we think we’re supposed to do the sex that is appropriate to everyone else, starting with our parents, the “culture,” religion and the government. In other words, everyone gets a say — except for you. You might decide now is a good time to end that policy.
The Heart of the Digital Matter
Right now and well into March, Venus snuggles up to this alignment. The inner planets localize the outer planets; they make them real in personal experience.
They turn them from abstract concepts in the background to immediate and tangible experiences. All kinds of personal sexual, emotional and relational material could bubble to the surface. If you’re lucky you will remember something about who you were before you were hooked into all this electronica.
There’s a lot here, and this seemingly minor development of Venus stationing retrograde in my view describes the very heart of the digital matter: incarnation; feeling; sensory experience; our capacity to love, and its relationship to desire.
More above on STARCAST, and watch for announcements of special audios and videos as I develop this issue. Look for the names Venus and Salacia. I am likely to cover this in Saturday night’s Book of Blue podcast.
With love,
Your faithful astrologer,
