Archive for November, 2012

New Moon in Scorpio / Total Solar Eclipse — November 13, 2012, 22:08 UT

Sunday, November 18th, 2012

The Scorpio New Moon on Nov 13 was a powerful total solar eclipse. Eclipses can be stressful, but they offer us a moment to pause, to notice the matter which calls our attention, and to choose a new path if necessary. In Finland we are experiencing the Scorpio eclipse at full force. We are in the midst of the worst environmental crisis in our history.

Often the energy of an eclipse can be felt before the actual event. On Nov 4 a waste water pool at the Talvivaara mine in Northern Finland started to leak and spill out poisonous water at a speed of 5000 – 6000 cubic meters an hour. The mining company’s attempts to block the leak failed and the waste water pool drained empty. Part of the contaminated water gushed right away out of the mine area and continued into nearby rivers and lakes. Part of it ended up in emergency pools, but the emergency pools lack bottom structures, so the water which contains toxic heavy metals, chemicals and uranium will eventually soak through the soil into groundwater.

The Talvivaara mine is one of the largest nickel mines in Europe. Talvivaara applies a new method, bioleaching, to extract the metals from ore. The production started in 2008 and the short history of the mine is full of problems. Finally, a couple of weeks ago the situation got totally out of control.

The eclipsing Moon on Nov 13 was at its perigee, which means that it was closest in its orbit to the Earth. The eclipse was forming a semi-square aspect (45 degrees) to Pluto, the ruler of Scorpio. Mining, toxins and pollution belong to the dominion of Pluto. Uranus is square to Pluto. The Uranus-Pluto square has been called the 2012 aspect. Uranus governs modern technology and metallic element uranium. It is associated with sudden events and breaks. The transiting Uranus is in exact square to Finland’s natal Pluto at 4+ degrees Cancer (Finland, Dec 6, 1917).

Neptune stationed direct just before the eclipse and in the chart it is in conjunction with the stationary Chiron. The energy of stationary planets is concentrated and powerful. Leaking and absorption belong in the rule of Neptune. Chiron raises awareness. Saturn in Scorpio is in aspect with Uranus, Chiron and Neptune. Saturn represents boundaries and structures. Besides the aforementioned square from the transiting Uranus, Finland’s Pluto in Cancer received transits from Saturn, Chiron and Neptune, too.

The eclipse is square to Nessus in Aquarius. Nessus speaks of the abuse of power. It has correspondence with poisons and sometimes with eczema. The local residents near Talvivaara mine have suffered from itching and skin symptoms for some time. In recent years the transiting Nessus has been hovering over the natal Uranus of Finland at 20+ degrees of Aquarius. On Nov 4, the day when the leaking started, Nessus stationed and turned direct.

The solar eclipse took place in conjunction with a plutino called Huya. The eclipse chart’s Huya forms a sesquiquadrate aspect (135 degrees) to Finland’s Pluto.

Semi-squares and sesquiquadrates are minor aspects, but there is no reason to overlook them. Just keep in mind when working with them that the orb has to be tight. Semi-squares and sesquiquadrates are irritating and frustrating in nature and they require practical action. They belong to the same aspect family with squares and oppositions.

At the time of its discovery in March 2000, Huya was the biggest and brightest trans-Neptunian object found since Pluto. Like Pluto, Huya spends part of its orbit closer to the Sun than Neptune. It is currently inside the orbit of Neptune and will come to perihelion in 2015.

Huya is named after the rain god of the indigenous Wayuu people of Colombia and Venezuela. In Wayuu mythology Pulowi and Juya, a married deity couple is associated with procreation and life. Juya is a male, a wanderer, a hunter, a warrior, and a seducer. He is a master of rain, and he lives in a distant place beyond the Sun. The Wayuu inhabit the arid Guajira Peninsula. The lack of water is a huge problem there.

The Wayuu have had to deal with problems caused by the coal mining industry. Their environment has been polluted and they suffer from health problems. They are forced to relocate and leave their ancestral land. In the coastal area the Wayuu people for their part have practiced artisanal sea salt mining for centuries. In recent years there has been struggle between the Wayuu and the government that has industrialized the salt production.

The Wayuu believe that the life cycle doesn’t end with death, but that a relationship with one’s bones continues. Burials are important. According to their tradition, a few years after the first burial, a woman gathers the bones of the deceased and cleans them. Then the remains are buried again. Long-dead Wayuu are believed to return on the Earth in the form of rain, which assures the rejuvenation of vegetation and life.

The traditional Wayuu style of living seems to be on a collision course with the changes caused by modern technologies. A Wayuu leader Jorge Montiel has said: “We will not be removed from the lands where our ancestors are buried. We are defending the animals, the forests and the water. This planet can’t withstand any more contamination. What good is all this wealth from oil and coal if we are dying of diseases and misery?”

The astrological meaning of Huya seems to tell something about the interaction between a man and the nature and about the consequences of our actions on the environment.

One more minor aspect is worth mentioning. There is a decile (36 degrees) between the eclipse and the Galactic Center. A decile belongs to the same aspect family with quintiles, and these aspects are found in the pentagram pattern. F. Sakoian and L. Acker write about this aspect group: “One of the abilities unique to this family of aspects is the capacity to understand the inner relation between seemingly isolated sets of circumstances.” About decile they say: “The division of the circle by ten suggests the number ‘1’ since ten reduces to one by adding its digits – ‘1’ is the number associated with will power, action and new beginnings.”

Centaur planet Echeclus is conjoining the Galactic Center at the moment. Echeclus was discovered in 2000 and initially classified as a minor planet. In December 2005, a cometary coma was detected around it. After the cometary outburst it was given a double designation as a centaur and a comet and renamed 174P/Echeclus. There was another outburst in 2011. Like Huya, also Echeclus comes to perihelion in 2015.

In Greek mythology centaur Echeclus was killed in a fight between the Centaurs and the Lapiths. He was hit in the face with a lance that lacked its point. Eric Francis has delineated: “It has a tendency to break apart and explode. It’s a comet-like centaur, with a 35 year orbit. The name is associated with gluten. Echeclus was killed by being hit in the face with a spear. I take this as losing face, or having one’s identity shattered. So there is something here about how we finally no longer identify with what is wrong with us, but this can only happen after we identify with it for a while.”

The mining company and the Kainuu ELY Centre (centre for economic development, transport and the environment) certainly have lost their face. Regulations have been broken, there has been deficiency in control, and authorities did not intervene fast enough. The Finnish government has been inept in handling the situation.

The police have started a preliminary investigation concerning the leak. The Talvivaara mine is under suspicion for an environmental crime. There is also a need for amendments to legislation. A massive clean-up needs to be done. A danger for the last safety bank to fail is hanging in the air. Protests have been held and people are demanding the closure of the mine.

Disasters like the one we are currently facing in Finland happen everywhere on the Earth. We have reached the point where we have to recognize our personal responsibility for the pollution and take action for the future of this planet. Australia has just set a good example by creating the world’s largest network of marine reserves, protecting oceans around its coast. The Earth needs our protection.