Archive for June, 2007

The Blue Moon of June – June 30, 2007, 13:49 UT

Friday, June 29th, 2007

THE SECOND Full Moon in June occurs at 8+ degrees Capricorn and opposes a conjunction formed by the Sun, the retrograding Mercury and two main belt asteroids, Astraea and Photographica. This cluster in Cancer sextiles a Mars-Ceres conjunction in Taurus and a conjunction of two asteroids, Pandora and Sphinx, at the South Node of the Moon in Virgo.

Astraea was the fifth asteroid discovered. After its discovery in 1845, thousands of other asteroids were found, and the four original ones (including Vesta, the fourth to be discovered), which were regarded as planets at the time, were demoted to the asteroid class. Ceres, the only asteroid known to be round, belongs now to a new “dwarf planet” class, defined by astronomers last summer. Please see what Eric Francis wrote last July when the New Moon occurred square Astraea and Mercury was retrograding in Cancer, as it is now: Eric’s blog.

The asteroid Photographica deals with visual imagery, often literally with all things photographic.

The Full Moon is quincunx cubewano Chaos in Gemini and centaur planet Elatus in Leo. The Moon is trining a Mars-Ceres conjunction in Taurus and a Pandora-Sphinx conjunction in Virgo. The Moon sextiles the North Node and forms a novile to centaur planet Hylonome in Scorpio.

The Sun is semisextile to Chaos and Elatus and semisquare a triple conjunction of Venus, asteroid Atlantis and Saturn. Asteroid Atlantis carries a theme of abuse of information and abuse of technological power. The triple conjunction of Venus, Atlantis and Saturn squares Sedna in Taurus, trines Eris-1992 QB1 conjunction in Aries and opposes Neptune in Aquarius. The Sun = Elatus/Chaos.

The Sun is biquintile to Chiron. Venus quintiles Chaos, Mars quintiles Neptune. Quintiles are 72-degree aspects that are based on dividing the astrological wheel in five, originally proposed by the astronomer Kepler. Eric has written:

“They are considered ‘minor’ aspects by most astrologers but are by no means so. They were developed not by the ancients, but rather by a distinctly modern guy named Kepler, who lived in Germany a few centuries ago. …Rick Levine, a true Keplerphile, once told me that quintiles are more like Mozart and less like Beethoven. In other words, they are not about technical perfection; they are about going with the flow. Rick has also described them as the soul of the chart. …”

The Sun is trine the North Node. Chaos squares the lunar nodes. Eric has delineated Chaos in his article “Chiron and the Worlds Beyond Neptune” as follows:

“Chaos was the supreme Greek creation deity — the forebear of the primary gods including Gaia (Earth) and Eros (the love that softens hearts). A cubewano discovered in 1998 with an orbit of just over 311 years, its theme is potential made manifest and the hidden order of reality. Its presence reminds us that the cosmos or creator is the source of all life and existence, and is our ultimate destination beyond the end of time. We return whence we came; we are infinitely connected with our own origins. In the psyche it’s the process of giving names to the unnameable so we can enter into relationship, and becoming a vehicle of creative expression so we can become like our source. Chaos is a personal access point to the fertile void, the space-out-of-mind that is the richest creative source available. To those attempting the uncreative use of power as a control method, Chaos can bring the condition for which it’s known in modern usage.”

Mercury semisquares the triple conjunction of Venus, Atlantis and Saturn in Leo and Sedna in Taurus. Mercury = Venus/Sedna.

Mars semisquares Uranus and Pallas in Pisces. Pallas-Uranus conjunction sextiles Sedna.

Jupiter is in conjunction with plutino Ixion and trines Elatus.

Neptune sextiles Eris-1992 QB1 conjunction and squares Sedna.

Asteroid Lilith is conjunct Pluto and semisextiles Hylonome. Asteroid Apollo in Taurus opposes Hylonome.

Asteroid Eros in Capricorn sextiles Pallas-Uranus conjunction and squares Eris-1992 QB1 conjunction.

Eris = 21+ Aries

Cancer Solstice – June 21, 2007, 18:06 UT

Friday, June 15th, 2007

The solstices are the times when the Sun in its apparent annual motion along the ecliptic reaches its most northern and southern points. The Sun reaches its most northern point around June 21st each year. This is when the Sun stands at the first point of Cancer.

The Sun opposes Pluto in Sagittarius and asteroid 1181 Lilith in the first degree of Capricorn. Eric Francis says that Lilith is extremely helpful because it tells you about the original woman inside the woman: “It is her deeper idea of herself and, in the chart of a man, his deeper idea of what a woman is, and how he relates to her. Lilith can also represent the crisis that ‘being the real me’ brings into the lives of both women and men.”

The Sun forms a sesquisquare aspect to Chiron in Aquarius, a sextile to Asbolus in Aries, a septile to Saturn, a semisquare to Venus, and a novile to Sedna in Taurus. The Sun squares asteroid 1221 Amor, which is approaching the Aries Point in the late degrees of Pisces. Amor is the asteroid related to unconditional love.

The Moon in Virgo and Mercury in Cancer are in mutual reception. The Moon is in conjunction with cubewano 2005 FY9 at 21+ degrees Virgo. 2005 FY9 is currently holding the apex position in a Yod formation (150-150-60 degrees) which is formed by Eris and 1992 QB1 in Aries, 2005 FY9 in Virgo and Neptune in Aquarius. This Yod took shape already in April and will hold till late July. Now the Moon is occupying the same degree as 2005 FY9, triggering the pattern, and offering the energies a release.

2005 FY9, not yet named, is one of the three bright objects whose existence was announced in July 2005. The two other bodies are Eris and 2003 EL61.

1992 QB1 was the first object which was discovered beyond Pluto. Its discovery position was the first degree of Aries, the Aries Point. 1992 QB1 has not yet been named either. Eric Francis has proposed Radharani, after the consort of Lord Krishna. He writes: “Radharani in conjunction with Eris would seem to represent a factor that restores our sense of sanity in clearly insane times; that bridges us with the cosmos in a time when we have no tangible model of the cosmos.”

The Moon opposes the Uranus-Pallas conjunction, trines Sedna, semisextiles Saturn and conjuncts Logos. The Moon forms also some very accurate minor aspects: a biquintile to Chiron, biseptile to Chaos, quintile to Pholus and semisextile to Echeclus.

Mercury forms a quintile to Mars-Asbolus conjunction in Aries and to 2005 FY9 in Virgo. Pholus quintiles 2005 FY9. Mercury = Moon/Mars = Mars/2005 FY9. 2005 FY9 = Mercury/Pholus. I quote Eric: “A midpoint is a kind of aspect that has no specific number of degrees attached to it; rather, it is a point located halfway between two planets. Sometimes there are planets we find at the midpoint; sometimes there is just ’empty space’ that sits there waiting for a transit or progression to come along and call our attention to it.”

Venus opposes Chiron. Venus is trining Jupiter, Ixion and Quaoar in Sagittarius. Venus sextiles Juno in Libra and septiles Cyllarus in Gemini. Juno = Venus/Jupiter.

Mars is applying to a conjunction to Asbolus. Mars is forming a Grand Fire Trine with Pluto and Orcus. Mars quintiles Chiron, noviles Chaos and biquintiles 2005 FY9.

Jupiter sesquisquares Asbolus, sextiles Juno in Libra, and sextiles also Nessus and Chiron in Aquarius.

Saturn opposes Neptune and trines the conjunction of Eris and 1992 QB1. Saturn and Neptune square Sedna. Saturn sextiles Cyllarus and Echeclus, and septiles Juno. Neptune sextiles Eris. Echeclus opposes Eris.

Pallas-Uranus conjunction is trine Varuna, square Quaoar and sextile Sedna.

Chaos in Gemini squares the lunar nodes. According to Eric, “if a planet is square the nodes, then one will not be able to deal with the nodes until they first address the concerns, issues or themes of that planet.”

Eris = 21 Aries 30
2005 FY9 = 21 Virgo 44

New Moon in Gemini – June 15, 2007, 03:13 UT

Wednesday, June 13th, 2007

THE NEW MOON occurs at 23+ degrees Gemini. Sabian Symbol for Gemini 24 by Marc Edmund Jones: “Children skating on ice. This is a symbol of the persisting imminence of adventure in experience, and of the constant danger to self in failing to sustain or order the complex of things as they are. Implicit in the symbolism is the value of an established reality as a foundation for further refinement of personal capacity and skill. The satisfaction of a successful self-expression always must remain a dynamic impetus to further achievement, and so never become a static aplomb or a surrender to self as it stands. The keyword is fun.”

The New Moon conjuncts centaur planet Cyllarus. The mythological creature after which this body is named was a young and beautiful centaur that was in love with a female centaur, Hylonome. I quote Eric Francis: “This is conjunct the centaur planet Cyllarus, which (as the presence of any centaur does) accelerates the processes indicated by the lunation, and reminds us to be conscious of the choices we are making in our lives — particularly the choice to fight, or walk away from a fight. Cyllarus reminds us that the decisions we make in life directly affect our relationships profoundly, and we need to be conscious of them in this context. We are connected by the threads of our lives to every person in our lives.”

The Sun, Moon and Cyllarus are opposite Pluto on the Galactic Core, trine Neptune and sextile to a triple conjunction of Mars, 1992 QB1 and Eris in Aries. Mars sextiles Neptune and trines Saturn. Saturn and Neptune are approaching their third exact opposition, which will occur on June 25. Saturn sextiles Cyllarus and forms a trine to Eris and to 1992 QB1. Neptune sextiles Eris and 1992 QB1. Mars = Sun/Neptune = Moon/Neptune.

Jupiter conjunct the Great Attractor sextiles Chiron in Aquarius. Jupiter sextiles also Juno – 2003 EL61 – Rhadamanthus conjunction in Libra. Jupiter = Chiron/Juno.

Mercury is moving very slowly at the moment of the New Moon; it’s almost standing still, getting ready to make its retrograde station, which happens later on the same day at 23:40 UT. Mercury doesn’t make aspects to any main planets, but it is in close conjunction with asteroid Industria. “Industria” is the Latin word for “diligence.” Diligence is one of the seven virtues and the opposite of sloth, its counterpart among the seven deadly sins.

The New Moon semisquares Venus, which is in conjunction with asteroid Sisyphus. Sisyphus of Greek mythology was compelled as a punishment to roll a huge rock up a hill forever. Before he reached the top of the hill, the rock always escaped him and he had to start again. Martha Lang-Wescott calls the Venus-Sisyphus conjunction the “Mother Teresa aspect.”

Both Industria and Sisyphus seem to have a relationship with a great amount of continuous work. Eric Francis explained the difference to me:

“I think that the key difference will be that Sisyphus work will seem pointless, while Industria work will feel like inventing a process to extract bromine from fossilized seawater, leading to many other developments (such as plastics and dioxins). In other words, industrialists stop at nothing. But look at the world they create.”

Venus also conjuncts two centaur planets, Okyrhoe and Elatus. According to Philip Sedgwick, Okyrhoe “promotes principles of discernment and conscious life skills.” His delineation for Elatus is “expression of self and ego through word and writing.”

Uranus squares Cyllarus and sextiles Sedna. Pallas is in close conjunction with Uranus. Pallas and Uranus oppose cubewano Logos in Virgo tightly. Another opposition in Virgo-Pisces polarity is formed by main belt asteroids Urania and Psyche. Urania is named after the heavenly muse of astrology and astronomy. Urania-Psyche opposition is aligned with the nodal axis.

Ceres occupies the discovery degree of Chiron at 3+ degrees Taurus.

The brightest asteroid, Vesta — among other things representing issues related to work — at 5+ degrees Sagittarius shines exceptionally bright these days, as Vesta will reach its perihelion (the point where an object orbiting the Sun is closest to the Sun) on June 16.

Eris = 21 Aries 28
2003 EL61 = 12 Libra 29 r
The Great Attractor = 14 Sag 08
The Galactic Core = 26 Sag 58

Full Moon in Sagittarius – June 1, 2007, 01:04 UT

Friday, June 1st, 2007

THE FULL MOON takes place at 10+ degrees Sagittarius. Sabian Symbol for Sagittarius 11 by Marc Edmund Jones: “The lamp of physical enlightenment at the left temple. This is a symbol of the enlarged understanding which comes from an inner and spiritual outreaching, and of the rewards following on a ceaseless experiment with one or another mode of self-expression. Here is self-orientation through a continual balancing of consequences and meanings in everyday activity and relationship. The world is seen as a laboratory for the soul, able to provide each individual with the reality he seeks for himself. The keyword is reconciliation.”

The Full Moon is in conjunction with Vesta and Jupiter, and the Moon squares the lunar nodes. The lunar nodes are the points where the apparent yearly path of the Sun and the monthly path of the Moon intersect as seen from Earth. Although eclipses can only take place when the Sun and Moon are at or near the nodes, there is a feeling of an eclipse with this Full Moon because of the tight square to the nodes.

The lunar nodes are the meeting point of the Sun, Moon and Earth. Melanie Reinhart writes on her website in the article Dragon’s Head and Dragon’s Tail: “The cosmic Father Sun and Mother Moon unite in the Divine Child incarnate, and thus the Nodes also represent where the opposites within us will demand balance, integration and fruition. Significantly, eclipses occur only along this axis, happening twice each year when the Sun, Moon and Earth are in precise alignment. Endings and beginnings are evoked as energies balance and rebalance.” She calls the points which square the nodes the “balance points.” In other words, anything that occupies the T-square points to the Nodes can facilitate balance.

Asteroid 69230 Hermes is conjunct the North Node. Asteroid Hermes was discovered in 1937, but then “lost” already before it received a number. Nevertheless, it was named after the Greek god Hermes and became the only unnumbered but named asteroid. In 2003 Hermes was rediscovered, and its orbit is well known today. Mythological Hermes is the Greek equivalent for Roman Mercury. He is the son of Zeus/Jupiter. He is a messenger from the gods to humans; likewise is his female counterpart, Iris.

The Sun-Moon opposition and the nodal axis form a Mutable Grand Cross. Using traditional sign rulers, the Moon in Sagittarius and the North Node in Pisces are both in signs ruled by Jupiter. The Sun in Gemini and the South Node in Virgo are both in signs ruled by Mercury. Let’s have a closer look at these two ruling planets.

Jupiter at 15+ degrees Sagittarius is strong in its own sign, and is not only conjunct this Full Moon, but also closely conjunct the Great Attractor at 14+ Sagittarius. I quote Eric Francis: “Anything involving the Great Attractor tends to have a polarizing effect, where two sides of a situation are seen; where people tend to choose sides; and where dualism is strongly emphasized. This is a distinct characteristic of the mutable signs, beginning with Gemini and with the dualistic property being just as strong in Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces. The mutables are signs where you can pretty much count on an ‘equal and opposite reaction’ at any time.”

Mercury’s echo phase has just begun. Mercury opposes asteroid 1181 Lilith and Pluto. Astrologically asteroid Lilith has an affinity with planet Pluto. Pluto on the Galactic Core is the most elevated planet in the chart cast for The Hague, Netherlands. According to Eric Francis, asteroid Lilith represents “the original woman inside the woman. It is her deeper idea of herself and, in the chart of a man, his deeper idea of what a woman is, and how he relates to her.”

In this chart cast for The Hague the nodal axis falls in the 6th house-12th house polarity. In The Node Book Zipporah Pottenger Dobyns says about nodes placed either in Virgo-Pisces or 6th house-12th house polarity: “This polarity brings into confrontation the Virgo passion for taking the world apart in order to make it run more efficiently and the Pisces search for union with the whole and the inner peace found through this sense of connectedness of life. When successfully integrated, this nodal axis represents a deep dedication to the well-being of humanity.”

The Full Moon forms a sesquisquare aspect to Venus, the ruling planet of Libra, the sign associated with balance and harmonization. Venus forms an interesting stellium with three main belt asteroids, all of which have affinities with planets Mercury and Pluto: 42 Isis, 7 Iris and 407 Arachne. All three can also be associated with assembling or connecting things.

The Moon sesquisquares asteroid Isis and forms a biquintile to asteroid 1923 Osiris. The Sun semisquares Venus and Isis. Venus semisquares the South Node. Venus = Sun/South Node. Osiris is trining the North Node.

In Egyptian mythology Osiris was the husband of Isis. Set was his envious younger brother, who killed and dismembered Osiris’ body into 14 pieces and scattered them throughout the land. Isis gathered up all the parts of the body and reassembled the corpse, less the phallus, which was eaten by a fish. The gods were impressed by the devotion of Isis and restored Osiris to life as the god of the underworld. We can associate this myth with the lunar cycle, in which the Moon appears to be destroyed by darkness, and is then brought back to life again. It has also been said that Osiris’ body was dismembered into 13 parts, and each part represents one of the 13 Full Moons seen each year.

Among Martha Lang-Wescott’s keywords for asteroid Isis are sibling relationships; fragmentation; sense of needing to “get or put it together”; desire to make things whole. Isis collects the ingredients, she integrates and “makes sense of” things that may not seem to be related. Isis can cause one to look for “missing links” or that one more thing that will have “everything” fall into place.

The Sun in this chart forms a novile to Iris and to Arachne. Iris and Arachne are forming a septile to the South Node.

In Greek mythology Iris is the personification of the rainbow, the connection between heaven and earth, gods and mortals.

Arachne was a vain maiden who was a skilled weaver. She wove beautiful fabrics and claimed that her skill was greater than that of Athena, the goddess of weaving. Athena was angered and she warned Arachne not to offend the gods. They arranged a weaving contest. Arachne’s work was flawless, but she wove pictures, each one of which was an insult to the gods. Athena lost her temper; Arachne ran off and tried to hang herself. Athena took pity on Arachne, loosened the rope, which became a cobweb, and Arachne herself changed into a spider. She is now condemned to weave and spin forever.

According to Eric Francis, “Arachne deals with the conspiracies, interconnections, and networks that make up our lives, particularly our ‘love lives’ — though for this planet, any web will do. It offers some clues into the web of intrigue we are living.”