Moonwalk: Pisces

© 2011 by Joyce Mason

All Rights Reserved

While the picture for last month’s Moonwalk: Aquarius found me, searching for the right art to illustrate Pisces Moon this month was—illusive! This photo called me, in the end, because it had so many Piscean characteristics. First, it’s a little confusing and foggy. Are we in the sky or sea? There appear to be stars and the Moon peeking through, but last I knew; fish don’t fly. Initially, the swirling school looked like silhouettes of small Plecostomus fish I might find in my home aquarium. On closer look, they might be big—and sharks. Welcome to the gauzy world of Pisces Moon where one moment’s perception gives way to another and all things merge into a liquid sensory medium where it’s hard to know which end is up—or the difference between what is benevolent or a danger.

Moon to the Max

But that’s just the murky part. If you’re a Pisces Moon native, you also know the amazing benefits of this Moon configuration—one I consider “Moon to the max.” This is a sensitive, naturally intuitive Moon, often downright psychic. Kindness, compassion, and understanding are what calls to this individual—and to all of us when the Moon is Fishy. Among the deep feeling water Moons, these individuals tend toward artists, poets, musicians—and, yes, sometimes the drugs, alcohol, and sex-as-addiction side of ecstasy. Pisces Moons are often service-oriented and enjoy humanitarian careers—nursing, psychology, and counseling, as examples. Many people with Pisces Moon help others overcome addiction and a variety of other painful human conditions, working in various types of treatment programs. Others are clairvoyant to the point of being professional channels. The religious life is another path some follow. They are at home in open-ended realms like dreams and myth where meanings are indefinite and interpretations are in the eye of the beholder.

Pisces Moon, too, also tends to be romantic and tenderhearted. Like all planets in Pisces, the Moon especially, this is not an individual that normally does well with conflict. The “slippery” nature of Pisces Moon and sometimes lack of forthrightness by reputation often has more to do with avoidance of confrontation or disappointment than malice. This is made more difficult by Pisces’ well-known boundary issues. (See Boundaries 101 for more on this theme.) Pisces Moon merges so easily; it’s difficult to know where Self ends and Other begins. This is can be a challenge when trying to get an answer out of him or her. Pisces Moon sometimes doesn’t even realize you don’t already know the answer. (“Don’t you know how I feel?”)

Yin and Yang, Heaven and Earth

There is light and dark in all of us.  Pisces is the yin/yang symbol, where the darkness as a dot of light and the light has a dot of dark. Can you see the fish swimming in both directions? Read more about this culmination placement of the zodiac signs in my article, High Signs 3: Living on the Upside of the Zodiac.

When Sun and Moon conjoin and start the lunar month in Fish, as described in High Signs, we are all on a mission between bliss and grounding.

Bliss and Grounding could be the name of the two fish swimming in opposite directions in the Pisces symbol.

The mission of Pisces is to go to ecstatic states (Heaven) and bring the information and feelings encountered back to Earth. If this blog is The Radical Virgo, its complement is Radical Pisces—evolving toward the best of this two-way mission. While Pisces can sometimes struggle with grounding, Virgo is too earthbound and needs to get a little high now and then.

Regardless of whether or not you have planets in Fish, this month Pisces is highly emphasized. Let’s do an exercise to maximize our month in the aquarium or the deep blue sea, depending how broad or narrow you want to draw your Neptunian boundaries.

Pisces New Moon Pause-and-Ponder

1.    Where does the New Moon at 13+ Pisces fall in your chart? Which house?

2.    What does this say about where you should focus your intuition, creativity, compassion and bliss? Devotion?

3.    Close your eyes and think about what makes you ecstatic. Are you doing enough of this in your life? If not, how will you “get in the swim” for more of it this month?

4.    What can you create in the next 28 days that will make a difference in your little corner of the world or fish tank, including to you?

5.    What is your relationship to watery Pisces’ complement, the  Earth element, and the sign of Virgo? Are you dealing with necessary details in life? Are you feet on the ground?

6.    How deep is your ocean? How big is your sky? (This isn’t just an old song and a rhetorical question. Ponder the metaphor and the answers will be meaningful.)

Click to enlarge

This Month’s Pisces New Moon

In the opening paragraph, I talked about a school of fish. The gathering of Pisces in this month’s New Moon chart looks more like a university. With Chiron, Mars, Mercury, and Uranus all in the sign of the Fish along with the Sun/Moon conjunction, there’s a whole lot of swimming going on—fish and water everywhere. It’s a stellium aquarium.

The university metaphor may be right on the mark. After a close dance that included three exact conjunctions between June 2010 and January 2011, Jupiter separated from Uranus and moved forward into Aries on January 22. It’s almost as though the school of fish is chasing Jupiter, some fish more slowly than others, as each planet inches from Pisces to Aries. What do we do when good luck, benevolence, and Jupiter in his professorial teaching role are several steps ahead of us? How do we catch up, and what do we do while we’re waiting for some of these planets to shift from the End Sign of Pisces to the New Beginnings Sign of Aries?

The expression at the end of a movie comes to mind. “It’s a wrap!” Since Pisces rules film, it’s an apt allusion. What do you need to wrap in the next couple of weeks? Once the Sun arrives at the Cardinal 0-Aries point at Spring Equinox on Mar. 20, the sap rises in trees—and people. It’s time for planting new seeds. By Equinox, the only planets left in the large cluster of Fish from this New Moon will be Chiron at 2^o and Mars at 20^o Pisces.

Salving the Pain

What do the Fish left behind have in common? They are both wounders. As astrologer Wendy Ashley once noted, Mars was our planet of wounding before we had Chiron. Chiron stays behind in Pisces a long time, till 2019. Mars finally moves into Aries on April 1 this year. Between now and then, it’s an excellent time to ask yourself what old pain still lingers and what you need to do about it. In confrontation-resistant Pisces, Mars can fool you into denying anger and old injuries. (Perhaps it’s a cosmic joke, Mars moving into Aries on April Fool’s Day—denial over!) When these issues become clearer as Mars moves into its own sign—the one that’s at home with anger and aggression—Chiron in Pisces will help us gently find tools to salve any pain that remains behind as our teacher while we work on overcoming it—or living with any lingering residuals. These achy leftovers act like an old cowboy’s lumbago, warning him/us of upcoming storms.

Chiron Returnees

Many younger baby boomers, including President Barack Obama, will experience their Chiron Return while Chiron is in Pisces. This month’s New Moon chart offers us such a Fish feast, we are bound to encounter most, if not all the themes 50-somethings have to look forward to in their last major midlife transit before their second Saturn Return. As one of the boomers happens to be the leader of the free world, this might be a good time for a recap on why the Chiron Return is so important. It’s good to contemplate how this might influence world leadership.

Chiron pioneer Barbara Hand Clow speaks of the “maturing” transits as follows: Saturn Return (around age 30) is a physical crisis. The Uranus Opposition to itself (around 40) is an emotional crisis. She calls the Chiron Return (age 50-51) a consciousness crisis. [1] Imagine how much more a change in consciousness might be part of the curriculum in the sign of consciousness, Pisces.

The foregoing paragraphs put this month’s huge stellium in Pisces into a larger upcoming context. In the short-term, many people have felt “out of sorts” as we’ve approached this month’s New Moon, and as one friend put it, learning of the school of Fish starting to swarm, “No wonder I’m so emotional.” We’ll be in a feeling, sensing state during this New Moon which coincides with the end of winter. It’s a time to honor gut instincts. It’s not the time for being “out there.” It’s a time of being “in here,” (envision my saying that hand on heart), referring to an inner and contemplative orientation. It’s a time for meditation, merging into our Oneness, and touching that Bliss I talked about earlier as one of the seeds we can plant for our future. Watch carefully how world events reflect the one global family we are creating on the Internet, including the refusal to accept domination knowing how “the other half lives.” The quincunx Saturn makes to the Sun/Moon conjunction in this New Moon chart seems an understatement of the readjustments required in today’s world. As Pluto in Capricorn continues to break down so many structures that no longer work, humans are regrouping and groping for new ones that do.

Dark Before the Dawn of the Natural New Year

I’m sure I go on about this enough times every year to sound preachy, but it’s only because I’m still convincing myself, too, to be in better synch with nature. Winter is not for leaping tall buildings in a single bound. All of nature rests, and humans feel punk because they refuse to. Hard as it is to accept, we are mammals and are part of the animal kingdom. This may be one of the many reasons I resonate to the archetype of Chiron, who shows us in his mythical half-man/half-horse persona; we are still part of Real Nature.

Cut yourself some slack this New Moon. Gather seed energy, so that by the time of the Full Moon on Mar. 19 and the Vernal Equinox on Mar. 20, you’ll be ready for a major energetic shift.

These two weeks before official spring are similar to the Dark of the Moon—the end cycle. Spring Equinox is the Natural New Year, the best time for new beginnings of all kinds. We are entering the days of the finale of your annual movie. Part of your anxiety may be that time is running out for the wrap.

When “The End” appears on the screen of your mind, it’s your choice whether it’s happy, sad, poignant, or a cliff hanger. Take this time of wrap-up to heart, and you’ll have a better spring and new year than you ever imagined possible. With all this help from planets in Pisces, turn to dreams, poetry, music and your imagination for all the guidance you’ll ever need. These tools will help you turn in an academy award winning performance next year.

~~~

Photo Credit:  Deep Blue Sea © Barun Patro | Dreamstime.com

Note

[1] Barbara Hand Clow, Chiron: Rainbow Bridge Between the Inner and Outer Planets (Llewellyn: 1994), p. 33, Fig. 3, Major Life Cycles.

Salacia—News on a Female Sea Divinity

Just in time for this very watery New Moon, there’s a new trans-Neptunian dwarf planet finally named. Formerly known as 2004-SB60, the new object has been called Salacia. 

In Roman Mythology, Salacia is the female divinity of the sea, worshipped as the goddess of salt water who presided over the depths of the ocean. She was the wife and queen of Neptune, god of the sea and water.

Discovered on Sept. 22, 2004, Salacia’s orbital period is around 272 years. As a trans-Neptunian dwarf planet candidate, Salacia has to do with evolutionary intensification.

Since this new object was named after Salacia, a sea goddess, it may be similar to Neptune in regards to dissolution, imagination, inspiration as well as things involving water, sea, and ocean.

Some factoids: At the time of its discovery, Salacia’s Heliocentric Node was at 10^o 13’ Capricorn. Its Perihelion is at 20 ^o33 Scorpio. This suggests that Salacia has Capricornian and Scorpion themes like ambition, concern about social status, transformation, and death/rebirth. The Sabian symbols for these points follow:

11 Capricorn: A Large Group of Pheasant On A Private Estate

The refinement and propagation of aristocratic values by means of which man participates in the evolution of life toward ever more perfect forms of existence.

21 Scorpio: Obeying His Conscience, A Soldier Resists Orders

A readiness to face the results of a refusal to follow the authoritarian patterns of an aggressive society.

Resources on Wikipedia

Astronomy

Mythology

For more on the Dwarf Planets, read Alison Chester-Lambert’s Guest post, Five More Plutos?

~~~

Thanks to Raymond Andrews for permission to share this material with you from his cutting-edge Facebook site, Divergent Astrology. Divergent Astrology is an open group. If you're interestedin dwarf planets and newly emerging objects, check it out!

Quotes for the Signs #7

© 2011 by Joyce Mason

All Rights Reserved

Long time, no quotes! Here’s the seventh batch in a growing line of quotes and Sun sign pairings, one of the more popular features on The Radical Virgo. Don’t forget; you can submit your favorites for future Quotes for the signs—even your own good words that have a certain sign’s name on them. You will be credited! Meanwhile, enjoy these latest words of wisdom.

ARIES: Practice fire safety—watch what you heat.  ~ Author Unknown

TAURUS: In a gentle way, you can shake the world. ~ One of Cesar Chavez's favorite quotes from Gandhi

GEMINI:  To be able to pretend to be something that I'm frankly not is very liberating and exciting. ~ Hugh Laurie, Gemini

CANCER:  The family—that dear octopus from whose tentacles we never quite escape, nor, in our inmost hearts, ever quite wish to.  ~ Dodie Smith

LEO: A dramatic thing, the first time you stand up to your dad. ~ Lenny Kravitz

VIRGO: In the dew of little things, the heart finds its morning and is refreshed. ~ Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

A physician without a knowledge of astrology has no right to call himself a physician ... There is one common flow, one common breathing, all things are in sympathy. ~ Hippocrates

LIBRA: You'll never find peace of mind until you listen to your heart.  ~ George Michael, "Kissing A Fool"

SCORPIO: There are chapters in every life which are seldom read and certainly not aloud.  ~ Carol Shields

SAGITTARIUS: Moderation is a fatal thing; nothing succeeds like excess.  ~ Oscar Wilde, A Woman of No Importance, 1894

CAPRICORN: The difference between a boss and a leader—a boss says, “Go!”—a leader says, “Let’s go.” ~ E.M. Kelly

AQUARIUS: "Being who we are rather than becoming who everyone says we must be is the ultimate simplicity. Nothing is more difficult to acquire in life."  ~ Joan Chittister

PISCES: What if imagination and art are not frosting at all, but the fountainhead of human experience? ~ Rollo May, The Courage to Create

~~~

Photo Credit: And I Quote © Zitramon Dreamstime.com

Want More Quotes? Plug quotes signs in the Search Box in the sidebar to pull up all the previous Quotes for the Signs posts. 

Five More Plutos?

The Dwarf Planets

© 2011 by Alison Chester-Lambert

All Rights Reserved

Guest Writer, Round Blog-In

We don’t need astrology to tell us that life is getting more complicated, but we do need an astrology to describe it. And when, in August 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) announced a re-shuffle of the terms used to describe the objects orbiting the Sun, it started a whole new adventure in astrology. There are those who will prefer to stick with the few planets used in astrology for centuries, but there others who, like me, sense that this new frontier offers pioneers a glimpse into a Brave New World.

Kuiper Belt and Buzzing Bees

From 2003 until 2008, the Palomar-QUEST sky survey was scrutinising the edge of the known Solar System and finding masses of new rocky objects beyond and around Neptune in an area called the Kuiper Belt. Some were as big as Pluto and this brought up questions about the Dark Lord’s position in the planetary line-up. Since Pluto is also rocky and at a steep incline to the plane of the Ecliptic, he was a bit of an oddball. However, he fits right into the Kuiper Belt family since those objects are like a swarm of bees buzzing around at all angles. After it was decided by the IAU that the term “planet” could only be applied to those objects that have cleared their orbital path and patrol alone, Pluto had to be stripped of this designation and given another.  Hence, the term dwarf planet was born and Ceres from the Asteroid Belt was included, since she, too, orbits with a group and yet otherwise has planetary characteristics.

Ceres—a Bridge by Sky and Myth

The inclusion of Ceres into a group which otherwise is comprised of Kuiper Belt objects makes the Dwarf Planets particularly interesting.  She forms a link from the Asteroid Belt to the Kuiper Belt and certain associations can then be noted and explored.  Firstly, there is the myth of Demeter and Pluto (Demeter was known as Ceres to the Romans), in which the maiden emanation of Demeter, known as Persephone, is married to Pluto and becomes the Queen of the Underworld. Secondly, it was argued by astronomers in 2008 that Ceres and Pluto have the same origins since they are similar in composition and could therefore have pin-balled apart in a Solar System shake up 3.9.billion years ago. Strange that their mythological counterparts also have strong connections!

Ceres’ position, so much closer to Earth, symbolises her protectiveness and loyalty to the human race, which was very obvious in the transits of August/September 2007. Sedna (symbolises hurricanes, rain) was in a two-year long square with Neptune and it rained…….a lot!  Vast areas of England were flooded and the crops were rotting in the fields.  The news reports were dire and there was no hope.  Then planet Ceres moved in front of Sedna and a miracle happened.  The rain stopped, the Sun came out and a few days later the farmers brought the harvest home. 

Ceres is known as a grain goddess. She is as much about the care of the human seed from embryo to child, to maiden, to mother, as she is about the care the farmer gives to the corn seed. In parallel, the corn emerges from the dark, soil underworld to become a seedling, ripen, be harvested and then returned to the underground grain silos to await planting again. 

Ceres is there in death, loss and grieving, but she also emerges with us in birth, fecundity and growth again.  Ceres’ promotion to dwarf planet not only indicates a huge rise in matriarchal, goddess energy.  She is a source of close-to-home, familiar, protective comfort and provides a stern reminder to honour planet Earth and the cycles of the seasons.

Pluto-Charon of the Kuiper Belt

Those who ignore the re-classification of Pluto to dwarf planet, miss the opportunity to explore rich new facets of his buried treasure, whilst resisting the very change and evolution that he represents.  And although this is a contentious issue, it is now prudent to look for the astrological meaning behind the IAU’s August 2006 surprise announcement, which included the suggestion that Pluto’s moon, Charon, should also be called a dwarf planet, making them a binary dwarf planet.  Charon qualifies because he and Pluto are a comparable size and they orbit each other; the centre of gravity of each planet is in the space between them instead of within the planet.  They are locked together like a giant dumbbell spinning in space.  However, Charon’s proposed status as Dwarf planet was not popular and fell from grace after my book on the Dwarf planets had been written, so it is arguable as to whether we should take it into account now.

 

Pluto-Charon was responsible for flagging up the presence of the Kuiper Belt, which was eventually revealed because their odd angle of orbit to the classical planets necessitated further investigation.  They were, therefore, early indicators and a gateway to the Kuiper Belt. This context makes Charon’s symbolic presence more important now.  In Greek myth, Charon was the ferryman who took the souls of the dead over the River Styx to Pluto’s realm.  Before him, the Egyptian Pyramid Texts of c. 3,000 BC told of a ferryman for the winding watercourse, and 1,000 years after that Mesopotamian myth told of a boatman on the Waters of Death.  The ancients knew that immense journeys of discovery into other realms required a spiritual guide.

The whole Trans-Neptune experience is a metaphor for discovery and we need some guidance from deity on this potentially difficult passage.  Charon the ferryman was not just the oarsman, he decided who got on the boat and whether or not they were sufficiently spiritually prepared to board.  He was a stern over-seer, who demanded coins for his ferrying.  The coins are possibly a metaphor for the wisdom gained in an appropriately conducted lifetime.  They indicate the proper preparation. 

Traditionally, Pluto describes the decay and transformation part of the life cycle, but he also represents nuclear and atomic power and so governs particle physics’ quest to discover the hidden secrets of the atom, with its invisible, ghost or “dark” particles.  Pluto’s discovery ushered in the “Miracle Year” of British physics, with the splitting of the atom and the theoretical discovery of dark matter and energy.  However, the science was so hard to understand and explain; the public gave a yawn and turned to the sports page. 

Science has now built the Large Hadron Collider to investigate what exists in the invisible dimensions that spawned our creation.  They will learn about the formation of our dimension from quantum-ruled pure energy to matter and form.  The human race will learn of the Big Bang or “Fall” of mankind to the earthly Upperworld, and science will cross from this dimension into others.  For this, we will need a guide and Charon looks like a suitable candidate.  

Healing and the Concept of Duality.

One last point, before we move on to the other dwarf planets, concerns that of duality.  NASA says that “Pluto has a dual identity” and this throws up some intriguing spiritual comparisons.  The Egyptians used the serpent to represent duality and one cannot help but ponder on the serpent’s many associations with Scorpionic and Plutonic matters throughout history.  There was a serpent in the Garden of Eden who invoked huge change and there are serpents associated with kundalini, magic and healing, such as those on the Caduceus, the staff of Hermes. 

It is likely that Pluto’s healing potential will become much more widely recognised as it was over 2,000 years ago when it was called magic.  For after all, to heal a boil, one first has to destroy it before the skin cells can regenerate.  Pluto’s energy is needed for the destruction and the growth.

The dual dwarf planet image of Pluto-Charon makes a lovely symbol for the super-symmetry theory of science.  Putting it simply, the atoms in your skin appear to be empty.  Today’s powerful microscopes have tried to find the solid bit in the atoms that make up skin molecules and cells, but they pass right through.  Atoms are made of particles and these are just spinning vortices of energy.  Your skin feels solid because of the resistance from the extremely fast vibration.  Think of a bicycle wheel that looks solid as it spins, but you can pass your hand right through the spokes when it stops.  The theory is that every particle of matter has an equivalent “dark” or “super” particle attached to it that gives it mass or presence but is undetectable in our dimension. This means you have a dark, “super” body as well as the one you know about. (Well, we could all do with a super-body!) This seems to be beautifully symbolized by Charon’s emergence from behind Pluto, whose accredited size had to be reduced after we discovered he shared his mass with Charon. 

Eris, Goddess of Resentment and Revenge

And now we must move on to the dwarf planets that were actually discovered.  An interesting row broke out between astronomers over the discovery of another dwarf planet, Haumea, as two groups claimed to have found her at the same time.  One was the American group in the Palomar-QUEST survey and the other was a Spanish team headed by Jose-Luis Ortiz.  The voluble and maverick leader of the American group, Mike Brown, (a Gemini with an apparent strong Sag or Jupiter influence) accused the Spanish of computer “hacking” without “scruples,” believing that they had used his research without citing it.  He was anxious to protect knowledge of Eris, his team’s most prestigious find in the Kuiper Belt, but up until then top secret and unannounced.  Eris was thought to be bigger than Pluto and should have been called the 10^th planet, but this caused a rumpus over the term “planet,” which unbelievably had no official delineation.  The result of this was a decision to call the classical planets on the ecliptic “planet” and no longer apply that term to any new discoveries.  This would establish stability in school textbooks.  The Kuiper Belt, along with Pluto-Charon, is at an angle to the ecliptic, so this made things easier to split up.

Eris’s nickname before being officially named was Xena (from the TV series Xena, Warrior Princess) and both these names can be seen as important since a set of considerable coincidences tie them both in.  Eris is known as the Greek goddess of chaos and strife who calls forth war and runs amok on the battlefield.  Whilst this might be one result of her involvement, we have to be careful not to dismiss Eris as a mere leather-clad thugette intent on causing WW3, for her meaning is oh-so-much more complex than that. 

The ancient Greeks believed that the god/desses were the feelings and energies of the living, the natural responses of human beings and nature.  They could be part of the personality or the archetypal feelings and responses that we all experience.  In one account, Eris is a primeval goddess, being the daughter of Night and Darkness and the mother of Trouble, Toil, Pain, Carnage, Brawls and Dispute, to name just a few.  As such, she describes an abstract concept that will be useful in psychological astrology.  Eris is that part of us which feels envy and resentment towards “those-who-have” or those we feel might be taking something that is not morally or rightfully theirs.  Personal or collective outrage and revenge ensues, which brings in Mars, a companion of hers in myth.  She will also take a situation that should have been sorted out and introduce exposing circumstances that will get it out of the box for resolution.  For instance, the proper categorizing of Pluto was long overdue and it was right to begin the debate of “planet” or “not planet.”  And maybe the American astronomers who discovered Eris should have ensured computer security before they entered secret data regarding her movements, thus driving the Eris-enraged Mike Brown to have a go at the Spanish for going into accessible web logs.

An example of Eris working in the collective could be found in the row over bankers and bonuses.  The public and press became Eris-enraged when they felt that bankers were gorging themselves on the public purse and taking much more than was fair or morally theirs. The public fury was about “if I can’t get that, why should they have it?”  and recriminations and public condemnation were rife.  Here we see how Eris energy will work in a fair and ordered society to control the excesses of the group and this is a natural law of civilization. 

However, Eris is strong and she can be volatile, vicious and spiteful.  In “Works and Days,” Hesiod warned of “slanderous-tongued Envy, with look of deadly hate….,” but he also gave us a careful and enlightening explanation of how to live positively and take advantage of Eris’s competitiveness.  His “good” Eris supports the worker in the race for wealth and prosperity by stimulating him into industry and determination.  “Bad” Eris would engage him in acts of envy that would waste time and prevent his own success.  Hesiod demonstrated clearly the duality of Eris, which is common to the dwarf planets, where things are not what they seem on the surface.

So, Eris is part of the natural justice system, a divinely instigated and policed moral system of repercussions and encouragement, inherent in the DNA of humans and the larger group.  As such, this article can’t really do her depth and complexity justice, but further research and assessment can be found in my book.

Makemake, Pandemics and Seafaring

Eris, Ceres and Pluto are all useful symbols for psychological astrology, but the early indications are that Makemake, the Great Sea Spirit of Easter Island in the South Pacific, is going to be the preserve of mundane.  His geographic isolation from western civilisation illustrates his distance from our cultural mentality.  The biggest barrier to our affection for him will be his name, since no one wants to sound dumb or disrespectful when trying to pronounce it. (Maki-maki or meke-meke will put you in the ballpark!)

The Polynesians who colonised Easter Island were incredibly skilled oceanographers who travelled thousands of miles around the Pacific Ocean in giant double-hulled canoes.  Makemake was their adored chief god whose priests presided over seasonal fishing taboos and various other crop-planting and sport related festivals.  Sadly, the Island’s population suffered a terrible holocaust brought about by illegal slaving and European introduced deadly diseases.  It went from tens of thousands to just 111 in the late nineteenth century.  Then it became fashionable for scientists in the 1990’s to proclaim that Easter Islanders had brought about mindless, ecological devastation of their island, but this was later proven to be inaccurate and speculative over-reading of the facts.  However, he does symbolise the reduction or growth of population numbers by natural or unnatural causes.  Earthquakes and tsunamis feature in his history, whilst in 2009 the WHO declared a worldwide pandemic situation over Swine flu, which had interestingly originated in South America and travelled to Europe.  In Easter Island’s history, it was the other way around with the Europeans taking small pox into the Pacific.  Earth’s current over-population is very much Makemake’s bag and he was active when David Attenborough was appointed patron of the Optimum Population Trust, an organization that supports human endeavours to reduce populations. 

In 2009, Makemake began to show strong resonance with the issue of Somalian piracy, which was making world headlines.  The pirates are skilled and stealthy sailors who operate over hundreds of miles of ocean and it is interesting to note that the world’s navies have a hard time locating the pirates whilst the pirates have no problem evading the navies and locating suitable ships to board.  The Easter Islanders had formidable pilfering skills and thieving was one of their greatest delights with codes of conduct and social acceptance that we do not understand.  Piracy seems to be a mixture of thievery and seafaring skills.  Fishing quotas and fishing stocks in general are also Makemake’s thing. 

Haumea, a Hawaiian Goddess for a Hawaiian President?

When the American discoverers made the courageous decision to break away from the tradition of naming new planets after Greek and Roman god/desses, they may have symbolised an emerging respect for Eastern or alternative spiritual beliefs.  This is possibly one of the most fundamental messages of Haumea’s and Makemake’s appearance. 

Haumea is the Hawaiian goddess of fertility, childbirth, wild plants and nature.  She also represents fire and the rock that is formed out of it on her volcanic islands.  Such a simple example that Fire forms Earth, just as energy forms matter.  The old islanders said that the Hawaiian Islands rose up out of the sea as the body of the spirit and, in fact, everything about Haumea is quintessentially Mother Nature with no dividing line between the islanders and their island.

There are a couple of synchronicities worth mentioning here and the first concerns the election of President Barack Obama.  Haumea’s name was chosen 2 years before it was announced to the world, and at that time, no one would have guessed that a Hawaiian-born mixed-race senator would run for the office of President of the United States of America and win it. At the same time, the announcement was made abut Haumea.  Another startling coincidence was the announcement that the planet was surrounded by five icy chunks and two moons, which seem to have been knocked off her body by a collision. (The moons were found using the telescope on Hawaii.)  With Haumea herself, this makes eight.  The state of Hawaii also comprises of the main island and then seven other islands that surround her, making a total of eight.  Myth says these islands were formed from parts of her body.

Haumea has deep and profound resonance with creational energy and her volcanic origins, so this is key to understanding her.  It is possible that she may symbolise discoveries in evolutionary science, so her future role in astrology is likely to be mundane, although this remains to be seen.  In conclusion, we should read the words of Beckworth, who wrote this in 1940:

“Behind the (legend) is the Polynesian mythical conception of a dark formless spirit world presided over by the female element, and a world of form born out of the spirit world and to which it again returns, made visible and active in this human life through light as the impregnating male element.” [1]

Why the Arrival of So Many New Symbols?  What Are We Being Introduced To?

Haumea, Makemake and Eris were all respected by races who believed that the god/desses were the feelings, energies and natural responses of the living and nature.  They believed that all things on Earth are imbued with magical power, force and energy—a fact that science now knows to be true.  But this concept was alien to the West, which has worshipped a single god and not nature.  We lost our relationship with the environment, tuning in to technology and tuning out the sacred feminine and natural rhythm.

 

“The Key” from the Hermetic Texts gives a hierarchy of deity, putting a single almighty creator God at the top, with multiple and specific god/desses underneath and nature under that.  Humans are at the bottom of the pile and they control “arts and science”.  The trouble is we took control of “arts and science” and then took them too far.  We introduced more and more gadgets, systems and complexity, which requires a great amount of planetary resources.  But worse, we stopped believing in the god/desses.

In the last two thousand years, world religions tried to cut out and exclude the middle ranking god/desses, believing that we could report straight to the top guy who is arguably represented by Uranus or the Higher Universal Mind.  This monotheism took us into misguided spiritual beliefs.  It doesn’t work like that.  There is no quick fix straight to the top leaving out the middle management.  You have to work with them or they will complain--as they are doing. They will protect this dimension and humanity for its enviable, independent self-governance (which they tap into), but they do demand homage.  If not, they will disrupt the whole shebang.

Astrologers who have been around a while are firmly attached to the old classical planets paradigm and quite happy with the astrology they get from that, thank you very much!  It will take the new generations of astrologers to begin to use the dwarfs regularly, just as the new generations use Twitter and Paymobile. 

So why do we need the Dwarf Planets? The dwarfs may be smaller in scale to the classicals, but small does not mean insignificant, as we know from our experience of Pluto’s power.  The dwarf planets represent god/desses from the middle rankings just as the classical planets do and this makes them of equal importance.  That said, the biggest reason is the one I used at the beginning of this article--we don't need astrology to tell us life is getting more complex.....  but we do need an astrology to describe it!

Alison Chester-Lambert has written a book, The Future in the Stars, describing each of the Dwarf planets in detail. Alison lives in England, but is available for readings by phone. (She calls you). Visit her website, e-mail her, or phone: +44 7767 810889 or +44 1827 68288.

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Note: 

[1] Beckworth, M. (1940) Hawaiian Mythology; Sacred Texts (accessed 31 January 2009), p. 309

  

Alison's US West Coast Tour - May 2011 

Friday, May 13-15:  The Buddhist Wesak Festival, Mount Shasta.  Non-astrology talk.

Monday, May 16: 6:30-9:30 pm. Astrology talk, Sacramento Area Astrologers

Wednesday, May 18 : Evening non-astrology talk. Mystic Journey Bookstore, Venice, Los Angeles

Thursday, May 19: Evening astrology talk. NCGR, Tarzana, Los Angeles

Friday, May 20:  Evening astrology talk. Oregon Astrologers Association, Portland

Saturday, May 21: New Connections TV show. Portland, Oregon

Sunday, May 22: Afternoon non-astrology talk. New Renaissance book shop, Portland.

Alison is available for readings at different times during the tour and these can be booked now by e-mail--or you can contact her for additional details on her tour: alison@midlandsschoolofastrology.co.uk

  

Humor: Love's Many Aspects

© 2011

by Joyce Mason

All Rights Reserved

 

This is the time of year we tend to be fixated on synastry. You’re probably poking around your beloved’s chart right now, trying to figure out which of his or her many aspects to your planets are favorable. That way, you can “work them” and maybe get lucky on Valentine’s Day. Here’s what you might experience if those aspects between your charts were talking to each other like lovers. Doesn’t matter who owns which one; the pillow talk will be similar.

Venus conjunct Sun

“You are the sunshine of my life” (with apologies to Stevie Wonder).

Mercury opposite Mercury

I just don’t know how to tell you how I feel. Words get in the way.

Venus trine Venus

I can’t stop saying “I love you,” over and over and over and over and over and over ....

Mars square Mars

Let’s fight and have make-up sex.

Jupiter square Jupiter

Roses are red

Violets are bluish

Oy, what can we do?

You’re Christian; I’m Jewish.

Saturn square Jupiter

I want to lock hearts and swallow the key. (This is the last correspondence Jupiter opens from Saturn.)

Chiron conjunct Mars

I love you so much; it never stops hurting.

Uranus square Venus

I dig you the most.

Neptune conjunct Venus

 Drunk on Us.

Pluto square Venus

I vant to bite your neck and leave marks.

Venus square Jupiter

I hate long-distance romances.

Neptune trine Venus

A rose is a rose is a rose—and is even better in colored glasses.

Happy Hearts Day from the Radical Virgo! 

Got Questions on Chiron? Get Answers!

A Time-Sensitive Announcement

Dear Radical Readers,

As mentioned in my monthly New Moongram (subscribe at the top of the sidebar if you don’t already get it), I’m in the midst of two guest Q&A sessions about Chiron on Donna Cunningham’s remarkable blog, Sky Writer. The first session on February 5 focused primarily on natal Chiron. It was a lively exchange with excellent questions by a very engaged audience. These little centaur kids are my symbol for having the right playful spirit in learning. Bring yourself and your inner centaur-child to the festivities!

Chiron Transit Q&A. The next session on Saturday, February 12 begins at 1:30 pm PST and focuses on Chiron transits. Donna’s Chiron Alert announcement has all the details including a link to view the February 5ths Q&A. While it’s not necessary to be there in real time to read the next exchange (you can always visit Sky Writer later), to ask a question, you need to be on Sky Writer at the appointed hour, ready to pop your question into the comment box. I’ll only take 25 questions, so if you have one on Chiron transits that’s burning for you, get there early for a better chance to get your question into the queue.

Chiron 101 Summer School. And by the way, here’s something to start pondering. I’m planning to do a Chiron 101 Summer School for six weeks in July and August. It will be an online class conducted by group e-mail. I have taken writing classes this way and just love the format. The idea: I write a “lesson” on Mondays and Thursdays, sent to the class via the group e-mail list. There are always questions at the end for response and comment. Each individual Replies All, and we have ongoing dialogue—and, at the end, an e-mail “book” of our learning together. (Just keep a folder for the class in your e-mail box.) There will be a generous discount for early sign-up by mid-June. If you’re interested in this offering and want an e-mail when registration is open, please contact me (joyce at joycemason.com) with Chiron Class in the header.

Till the next offering on my Mobile Mt. Pelion,

Joyce

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Photo Credit: Cute Toon Centaurs Playing in the Snow | © Algol | Dreamstime.com

Is the Semi-Sextile a Good Aspect or a Bad One?

©2009 by Donna Cunningham, MSW

Guest Writer, Round Blog-In

Have you read or been taught much about the semi-sextile?  I’m guessing that you haven’t—in most astrology writings, it tends to get shrugged off as a minor aspect after a half-hearted sentence or two of description. 

It’s a 30° aspect, plus or minus 2-3°. For instance, a planet in Aries may form a semi-sextile to a planet at approximately the same degree of either of the two adjacent signs, Pisces or Taurus. 

Briefly, the aspect involves planets in neighboring signs. But are they good neighbors or bad? That is to say, are they harmonious or at odds, do they support each other or bicker, and do they bolster each other’s efforts or sabotage them?

My answer is: all of the above…depending on the signs and planets involved. There aren’t really any good or bad aspects, you know—just evolved and unevolved ways of using the two planets in the combination. The ultimate effect depends on the choices you make about how to use them at any given moment. 

However, I’ve been watching semi-sextiles in my own life and the lives of friends and clients for 40 years, and for the most part I like them. The good traits of one of the signs can usually offset the less than wonderful traits of the other, especially if we learn to use them consciously. I have several in my chart, and they tend to pull me back off the ledge when I’m about to bungee dive into the worst qualities of the signs involved.

Two of my four are in Gemini-Cancer, so let me tell you what I like about that combination. Gemini can too often be glibly cerebral, and when I get that way about something that’s going on, Cancer reminds me of the emotions I’m glossing over.

On the other hand, one of Cancer’s worst traits is to be hypersensitive and to take someone else’s remarks too personally, then withdraw in injured silence. Gemini teaches to me laugh at myself nd communicate with the person about what was meant. All too often, they didn’t mean what I thought they did, but were off on some track of their own.

Here’s a full list of signs that are semi-sextile to one another, so you can check for this aspect in your own chart. Remember, the degree numbers of the planets should be no more than 2-3° apart. For example, a planet at 23° of Libra could be semi-sextile to planets between 20-26° of either Virgo or Scorpio. If you have a chart with the aspects printed out, look for the symbol shown at the side. 

 What about some other next-door-neighbor signs?  

Aries’ powerful urge to take action can offset Taurus’ typical inertia, but Taurus’ patience in bringing things to fruition can counteract Aries’ impulsive tendency to abandon projects when they don’t get immediate results. Pisces’ compassion can temper Aries warlike qualities, while Aries can provide the initiative to realize Pisces visions.

Libra can tone down Virgo’s criticisms and deliver those essentially well-intentioned corrections with a spoonful of honey. On the other hand, Virgo’s discriminating analyses can offset Libra’s tendencies to fall for a pretty face and charming line. 

Sagittarius can lend optimism to Scorpio’s cynical outlook, but Scorpio can discern what’s really going on underneath that charismatic new guru’s message that Sag is prone to take on faith.  Capricorn’s capacity to create structures, and administer them, can take Aquarius’ theories out of the ivory tower and into the planning stage.

Did you notice how many cans there were in the examples given above? Can presupposes that only one of the signs is showing its rotten side at the moment, and that the other sign is trying to help them evolve out of the murk and mire. What would happen if both signs were taking the lower path? To be perfectly fair, these two signs can also aid and abet each other in mayhem if the combination is misused.

Perfect example: With my Cancer/Gemini semi-sextiles, before I got so bloody evolved, I was capable of firing off some fairly devastating written commentaries to people who offended me. I’d detail what they did, why I was so deeply wounded by it, exactly what sort of worthless human being they were, and what they could do with themselves from here on out.

And I allowed no comeback—this was in those dimly-remembered days when people still wrote letters rather than emails.  Any written reply was returned marked “refused delivery.” No exaggeration. Nope, you wouldn’t have wanted to receive one of those poison pen letters of mine. After a LOT of work on myself, I foreswore that behavior quite some time ago. (It also helped when my progressed Mercury moved into Libra.)

Still, when the positive qualities of both signs are carefully cultivated, next-door-neighbor signs like these can prop one another up like good neighbors do in real life. A solid sense of respect for your own and other people’s boundaries is part of what makes the difference with this aspect, as in so many other areas.  Be guided by what Robert Frost wrote: “Good fences make good neighbors.”

Incidentally, folks, my series of articles about aspects that ran in The Mountain Astrologer in 2008-9 is now available as an e-booklet, Aspect Analysis. It’s designed to teach the nuts and bolts of analyzing aspects–the real building blocks of chart interpretation, whether you’re studying natal, transits, chart comparison, mundane, electional, or horary.

Now that I’m done sharing what I’ve garnered about semi-sextiles over the years, here are some additional perspectives on this aspect found in an internet search today: 

• Annie Heese at Cafe Astrology delineates tons of examples—a quality sadly lacking in most writings about this aspect.
  
  
•  Semi-Sextile from AstroDienst’s AstroWiki
  
  
•  Semi-sextile from a collection of articles on aspects at astrology.com
  
  
•  In AdZe’s Classroom
  
  
•  Rhudyar lovers will be interested to know that there are actually a pair of distinctly different semi-sextiles, as articulated by Michael R. Meyer: the waxing aspect and the waning aspect. (Of Virgo’s two semi-sextiles, the sign afterward–Libra–would be the waxing one and the sign before–Leo–would be the waning one.)

Completely unrelated but a find anyway at Wikimedia Commons is this collection of astrological aspect symbols available to use as graphics:    The semi-sextile glyph used here is from that collection.

More Articles from the Series about the Lesser-Known Aspects

• Understanding Semisquares—Your Input Needed
  
• Understanding the Sesquiquadrate—Your Input Needed

•  Understanding Septiles–Your Input Needed

•  Understanding Quintiles—What’s YOUR Talent?
  
•  Understanding the BiQuintile—Your Input Needed

•  Quincunx vs. BiQuintile–an Answer from Numerology?

• Understanding the Mundane Square—Your Input Needed
  
• Mundane square case study: Outtake from a Moon-Pluto Life
  
• The Not so Minor Aspects—Results of Our Research

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Photo Credit: © Madartists | Dreamstime.com

About the Author: Donna Cunningham, MSW is an internationally-respected author of books, articles, and columns about astrology, flower essences and other metaphysical topics. Her insights reflect her dual background in astrology and psychotherapy. She has a Master’s degree in Social Work from Columbia University and over 40 years of experience in working with people. Her ebooks can be found at Moon Maven Publications Visit her blog, Sky Writer.

Auntie Joyce's recent humor post, Love Thy Neighbor, was all about semi-sextile neighbors. You might want to revisit it with Donna's insights in mind. It might be even funnier the second time around!