The New Moon in the late degrees of Aries was in conjunction with two distant minor planets, cubewano 1992 QB1 and centaur planet Pelion.

1992 QB1 was the first body found beyond Neptune since the discovery of Pluto in 1930. It has changed signs from Aries to Taurus recently. The New Moon’s conjunction to Pelion at 26+ degrees Aries was tighter than its conjunction to QB1.

49036 Pelion is a centaur planet discovered on August 21, 1998. Its orbital period around the Sun is about 89 years, a little longer than that of Uranus. The orbits of the centaurs are elliptical. They usually cross one or more of the rounder orbits of the main planets, and therefore they are called orbit-crossers. Uranus is the only main planet whose orbit Pelion crosses.

In 1998, when Pelion was found, Uranus was moving in its own sign, Aquarius. In its discovery chart, Pelion was in strict conjunction with Uranus. Uranus is the planet of inventors, innovations, and crossing of boundaries. Aquarius is concerned with humanity and social equality. The sign is associated with electrical waves and technological advancements. Planets in Aquarius tend to operate in unconventional manner.

Is Pelion’s conspicuous involvement with Uranus just a coincidence, or does it offer clues on Pelion’s astrological meaning? Pelion has remained with very little notice so far, perhaps because its name does not refer to any mythological character, but a place. In many case, when astrologers try to establish the meaning of a new planet, they take into consideration the myth behind the name.

Pelion is a mountain in Thessalia, Greece. In Greek mythology, Mount Pelion took its name from the mythical king Peleus, father of Achilles. Mount Pelion was the homeland of Chiron and other centaurs. It was the place where Jason and the Argonauts started their quest for the Golden Fleece. The ship for this voyage, Argo, was built from wood from the trees of Mount Pelion. It was also where the wedding to which Eris was not invited took place.

Another means, when trying to establish the meaning of a planet, is to look at the news around the discovery time. What was happening in the world at the time?

The first RFID passports were issued by Malaysia in 1998. The abbreviation RFID means radio-frequency identification. The passport’s critical information is both printed on the data page of the passport and stored in a microprocessor chip. The biometrics used for this type of identification system is fingerprint recognition, for example.

RFID tags can be used to track people, cars, and mobile phones. They can be used to pay on bus, trains, or subways, or to collect highway tolls. RFID tags for animals represent one of the oldest uses of RFID. You may get your lost dog back, if there is a microchip implant under its skin.

On August 24, 1998, the first RFID human implantation was tested in the United Kingdom by Kevin Warwick, a British engineer, who has his Sun in Aquarius, which suits well for a scientist who is undertaking groundbreaking experiments. Warwick has a Chiron-Pelion opposition aligned with his lunar node axis. Project Cyborg is the most famous of his studies. A simple RFID transmitter was implanted beneath Warwick’s skin, in order to control doors, lights, heaters, and other devices controlled by a computer. Warwick was given the nickname “Captain Cyborg.”

A cyborg, the shortening for “cybernetic organism”, is a being with both organic and biomechatronic parts. The term covers a wide variety of beings. In principle, someone having an artificial cardiac pacemaker can be called a cyborg. Neil Harbisson is probably one of the most famous cyborgs in the world. He is a contemporary artist and cyborg activist with an antenna implanted in his skull. He was born with extreme color blindness and has always seen only in grayscale. The antenna allows him to hear colors. In 2010, he co-founded the Cyborg Foundation, an international organization that helps humans become cyborgs and promotes cyborgism as an art movement.

Neil Harbisson (Image: Dan Wilton/The Red Bulletin)

The term cyborg was coined in 1960 by Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline. “Space travel challenges mankind not only technologically but also spiritually, in that it invites man to take an active part in his own biological evolution. Scientific advances of the future may thus be utilized to permit man’s existence in environments which differ radically from those provided by nature as we know it,” they wrote in their article Cyborgs and space, published in Astronautics in September 1960. Manfred Clines has a Chiron-Pelion conjunction in Aries.

In popular culture and fiction we have become acquainted with creatures like Darth Vader and the Terminator. The television series The Six Million Dollar Man in 1970s was based on a novel by Martin Caidin titled Cyborg. Caidin has a Chiron-Pelion conjunction in Taurus. Also his Moon is somewhere near the centaur conjunction.

“We are all cyborgs now,” says Amber Case, a cyborg anthropologist. She studies the symbiotic interactions between humans and machines. “Technology is evolving us, as we become a screen-staring, button-clicking new version of homo sapiens.” However, she thinks that the machines are helping us to be more human, because they are helping us to connect with each other. In social network we have to start to maintain our second self though. She is also worried about people not taking time for mental reflection anymore, because they are too busy checking their phones and emails all the time.

The Sabian symbol for the discovery degree of Pelion, Aquarius 10, interpreted by Dane Rudhyar: “A man who had for a time become the embodiment of a popular ideal is made to realize that as a person he is not this ideal. Keynote: The need to deal with human beings as persons rather than as screens upon which one projects one’s dream and ideal.”

Our cell phones, computers and social networks allow us to contact our friends all over the globe at any time. The whole world has become our “Mount Pelion”. The mythical centaurs were half-man, half-horse creatures. They remind us that there is also an animal side in us humans. Even if the contemporary man is changing to a cyborg, we are still humans, and we need to cultivate our human side.

New Moon in Pisces was a Total Solar Eclipse, one of the highlights of the year.

Pisces is the last sign of the zodiac, and the Sun was eclipsed by the Moon in the last degree of Pisces. Only about thirteen hours later, the Sun ingressed Aries and entered a new phase on its cyclical journey around the zodiac. The Sun’s ingress into Aries marks the spring equinox, when the length of night and day is equal everywhere on Earth. It is also the beginning of a new astrological year.

The eclipse occurred near another notable event, namely the last of the seven Uranus-Pluto squares, which have taken place between 2012 and 2015. The last square happened on March 17, 2015. Uranus-Pluto square is the long term aspect defining our era.

At the time of the Solar Eclipse, the luminaries were in conjunction with 120347 Salacia. Salacia is a binary Kuiper belt object, named after the goddess of salt water, the wife of Neptune. Salacia is orbiting the Sun at an average distance slightly greater than that of Pluto. The primary body was discovered in 2004 and assigned a name in 2011. The companion was named Actaea. Both bodies in this binary system are named after sea nymphs, nereids, which are said to be sailors’ friends.

I was witnessing the eclipse in the City Port of Kotka, where about 82% of the Sun’s disc was obscured by the Moon. Thin clouds were moving across the sky, but they did not prevent seeing the phenomenon. At the peak moment the color of the light was extraordinary.

The ocean plays a fundamental role in the world’s water supply, as do the major ice fields. The water cycle is powered from solar energy. 86% of the global evaporation occurs from the oceans. When water evaporates, it takes up energy from its surroundings and cools the environment. Today is the World Water Day. It is celebrated around the world every year on March 22. It’s a day to celebrate fresh water.

This was the second New Moon in Aquarius this year. January’s New Moon was in the first degree of Aquarius, and now, a month later, the New Moon was in the last degree of the same sign. The Moon and the Sun were in conjunction with 7066 Nessus, the third centaur, which is occupying the first degree of Pisces.

The Moon and the Sun did not have much time to spend in Aquarius before shifting to Pisces. Nessus moves relatively slow. It has ingressed to Pisces earlier in the month, on Feb. 7, 2015.

Nessus is a special centaur because of its naming process. Nessus was discovered in 1993 and given the preliminary designation 1993 HA2. Several astrologers in different countries had separately studied the object and had become to the conclusion that it should be named as Nessus. They approached astronomers with their name proposal. Usually the discoverer’s name suggestion gets approved by the International Astronomical Union. In 1997 the name Nessus was officially appointed by the IAU. For the first time in modern times, astrologers had a major role in the naming process of a celestial body.

The orbital period of Nessus is 122 years. Nessus has to some extent a plutonic quality. The misuse of power is one of the themes, and the issues can be originating behind several generations. Dealing with a Nessus transit can be painful, but the transit also offers a chance for healing and release, as Nessus allows putting an end to those issues.

“The buck stops here” is Melanie Reinhart’s keyword phrase for Nessus, and it refers to the sign which president Harry S.Truman held on his desk. Passing the buck is the act of attributing to another person one’s own responsibility. Melanie Reinhart is a centaur specialist and the author of Saturn, Chiron and the Centaurs, published in 1996. She trusted her research and used the name Nessus in the book, already before the official naming.

The Aquarius New Moon fell half way between Pluto and Uranus, forming an aspect called a semi-square (45 degrees) to both planets, thus connecting this New Moon event with the Uranus-Pluto square, the long term aspect of our era. The semi-square resembles the square aspect. It is a challenging aspect, and this setting in the chart may temporarily highlight the negative side of Nessus. However, the interplay of Venus and Mars in conjunction in the late degrees of Pisces can offer some truly creative solutions in dealing with Nessus.

The New Moon is always a conjunction of the Sun and the Moon. It starts a new lunation cycle. The first New Moon of the year on Jan. 20, occurs in the first degree of Aquarius. Aquarius is an air sign in which innovations, radical thinking and group consciousness flourish. The first degree of a sign (any sign) also starts a new phase. The now beginning phase is going to be an adventure.

The January New Moon in Aquarius is in exact square to a trans-Neptunian object in Taurus called 1992 QB1. QB1 was the first body found beyond Neptune since the discovery of Pluto in 1930. It was found by astronomers David Jewitt and Jane X. Luu in 1992, and it still hasn’t been named, so we just call it QB1. The discovery of QB1 proved the existence of the Kuiper belt, which had only been hypothesized till then.

The discovery of QB1 was the turning point. After that, an avalanche of discoveries of Kuiper belt bodies has followed. Currently the number of known trans-Neptunian objects is over 1,500.

On Jan. 5, 2015, was the 10th anniversary of Eris’ discovery, the body which caused havoc among the astronomers and led to demotion of Pluto among the planets in 2006. In honor of Eris, the discoverer Mike Brown published an article, where he looks back at the exciting early years, when every morning coming into the office and analyzing the data that the computer had worked on the night before, could have led to a new huge discovery. Since then the astronomers have processed their data again and again. The survey has covered the entire sky. Now, a decade after Eris, Mike Brown is announcing that there are no more bright new objects in the outer solar system to be discovered.

This does not mean that there would not be any new objects at all in the sky to be found. At the outermost edge of the solar system is a region called the Oort cloud. More objects like Sedna on very long orbits will enter our consciousness when the time is right.

In 1992, QB1 was discovered at the Aries Point, the first degree of the Aries sign, the point which indicates public contact and how the larger world sees us. Now QB1 is in the first degree of Taurus. Its journey through Aries has taken 22 years, the time within which all the bright Kuiper belt objects were found.

Taurus establishes the action which starts in Aries. With this New Moon, now that QB1 has ingressed in Taurus, we astrologers could follow the example of astronomers and take a new survey on the new planets, because it can take a long time before their meanings have revealed. Maybe something was not noticed on the first round. We could check our charts, notes and delineations once again. Hopefully also newcomers join the adventure.

The New Moon in Aries falls in conjunction with Uranus and thus merges with the powerful long-term t-square pattern formed by Jupiter, Uranus and Pluto.

We are at a threshold of a new phase, slipping on uncharted routes, to something we haven’t experienced before. A New Moon (the conjunction of the Sun and the Moon) always starts a new lunation cycle, and the Sun in Aries, in the first sign of the zodiac, means the beginning of a new solar cycle. Uranus adds the surprise factor to this lunation.

Last week the long awaited news was announced: the astronomers have found an icy little planet in Sedna’s region. Sedna is not alone anymore!

The new minor planet doesn’t have a name yet, but for the time being we can call it VP – a shortening from 2012 VP113 – or Biden, as the discovery team has nicknamed it.

Sedna was discovered ten years ago. It is the coldest and most distant place known in the Solar System, so it was named after the Inuit goddess of the sea, who lives at the bottom of the Arctic Ocean. All this time the astronomers have been searching for more objects like Sedna, and now they have found another, which raises the hope that there are even more of them.

Chad Trujillo, an astronomer at Gemini Observatory in Hilo, Hawaii, and the co-discoverer of this new body said in an interview: “It goes to show that there’s something we don’t know about our Solar System, and it’s something important.” And he continued: “We’re starting to get a taste of what’s out beyond what we consider the edge.”

Sedna is at 23+ degrees of Taurus at the moment, right opposite Saturn in Scorpio. VP is also in Taurus, somewhere in Sedna’s vicinity. Yesterday in Finland during The Earth Hour the lights were turned off with a focus on raising awareness about climate change in the Arctic. Let’s hope that the newcomer brings the change for the better.

The astrologers are watching the Grand cross developing, formed by Mars, Jupiter, Uranus and Pluto, and at the same time the whole world is watching the crisis in Ukraine deepen.

Ukraine proclaimed its independence from the Soviet Union on Aug. 24, 1991. The referendum confirming independence and the first presidential elections took place on Dec. 1, 1991. According to The Book of World Horoscopes by Nicholas Campion, the result was announced at 6:00 pm GMT, and it was then, that Ukraine began to function as a genuinely independent sovereign state. In the chart cast for the time when the result was announced, Uranus is in exact conjunction with the North node of the Moon at 11+ degrees of Capricorn. The lunar nodal axis is currently tightly transited by the t-cross formed by Jupiter, Uranus and Pluto.

In the chart of the Pisces New Moon, there are two stationary planets, Mars and Mercury. Mercury stationed direct in Aquarius on the previous day, and Mars stationed retrograde in Libra on the same day that the New Moon occurred. A stationary planet is focused and effective. Let’s hope that during the following days these two planets will play well together for Ukraine: Mercury moving in direct motion will support the negotiations, and Mars changing in retrograde motion will ease off the warrior energy of the planet.

My main focus in this blog are the new minor planets, such as the Centaurs and the trans-Neptunian objects, and in the chart there are two minor planets prominently situated, both which have a strong association with grain, namely Ceres and Teharonhiawako.

The New Moon in Pisces is conjunct Chiron and Teharonhiawako. Teharonhiawako is the maize god of the Iroquois. Ceres, the Roman goddess of the grain, is in exact conjunction with the lunar North node in early Scorpio, and also in conjunction with the stationary Mars in late degrees of Libra. According to Demetra George, Ceres symbolizes the principle of adaptation and the survival of the species, among other things.

88611 Teharonhiawako is a binary trans-Neptunian object. The companion is called Sawiskera. The names come from the Iroquois creation myth. The twin gods are the grandsons of the Sky Woman, who was said to have fallen through a hole in the sky. There are several versions of the creation story, and in one of them the creator god was said to have planted a single maize plant in the body of his mother, the Sky Woman. The plant was a gift to mankind. The twins are personification of good and evil. Teharonhiawako was a farmer and was loved by the people. Sawiskera was the evil twin. He was jealous, cruel and destructive, and he was eventually conquered by his brother.

The creation story is reflecting almost literally in the cultivation of maize. Maize has been grown thousands of years. Today it is the most widely grown grain crop throughout the Americas, and widely cultivated throughout the world. Maize constitutes a staple food in many parts of the world. Genetically modified maize represents the evil side of the story. There are potential health risks and serious environmental risks concerning GM food.

On Feb. 11, 2014, a new genetically modified corn, insect-resistant TC1507, made by DuPont and Dow Chemical, won EU approval in a controversial voting, even though a majority of the member states were opposing. This is possible because in the EU voting system the votes of the big countries carry more weight than those of the smaller ones. I am sad to tell that Finland, represented by Alexander Stubb, our Minister for Europe and Foreign Trade, voted for the approval.

In the chart cast for Feb 11, 2014, the Sun is in conjunction with 5335 Damocles, named after a figure of Greek mythology. “The Sword of Damocles” is an expression, which is used as a metaphor for the imminent and ever-present peril faced by those in positions of power. We should be careful what we ask for, when we are dealing with Damocles. In Pisces we find a stellium of planets pregnant with meaning: the retrograding Mercury is not recommendable for decision-making or signing contracts; Teharonhiawako, the maize god himself, is between the awareness giving Chiron and the blurring Neptune; a few degrees from Chiron there is Borasisi, a minor planet, the meaning of which is related to lies that we believe and that make us feel better.

The case is not yet closed. Because of an error in the procedure, the final decision concerning the new GM corn will be made by the European Court of Justice.

The New Moon in Aquarius was the second New Moon in January, and it took place while Venus in Capricorn was stationary in order to turn direct the next day.

The Aquarius New Moon is strongly tied to the longtime aspect of the era, the Uranus-Pluto square. The New Moon, which always is a conjunction of the Sun and the Moon, was sextile to Uranus, the awakener. Uranus is the ruler of the Aquarius sign. The stationary Venus is in conjunction with the transforming Pluto and opposite the magnifying Jupiter.

Pluto transforms by breaking up the old and creating something new. Pluto’s impact is not rapid. Nevertheless, Uranus in sextile to the New Moon can bring a sudden change.

A stationary planet, like Venus in this case, is focused and has more impact than usual. Planets don’t really stand still or change direction, but occasionally they seem to do so when looking from the Earth.

Values and money are attributes of Venus. Pluto was the god of the underworld, the kingdom of the dead, as well as the god of the riches buried under the earth. The hidden treasure can symbolize our undeveloped skills and potentialities, or our suppressed curiosity.

The Sun and the Moon are participants in two yod patterns in the chart. In the first one the luminaries form the apex of the yod by a quincunx aspect to Jupiter in Cancer and another to asteroid Pallas in Virgo. In the other yod, Pallas is the apex point, forming the quincunx to the luminaries in Aquarius and to Uranus in Aries.

Asteroid Pallas in Virgo is an analytical strategist. The aspects suggest that there can be a conflict between reason and feelings, or between planning and spontaneous acts.

The quincunx aspect of 150 degrees is an irritating aspect, which calls for adjustment. The signs involved in the quincunx are one sign apart from the opposition. They don’t confront each other face to face. This has something in common with the asteroid in conjunction with the Sun and the Moon in Aquarius.

The asteroid in conjunction with the New Moon was 55 Pandora. “Pandora initiates a whole new ball game; it throws you a curve ball,” has Martha Lang-Wescott described. Pandora has astrological affinities to Uranus. A sudden circumstance “out of Pandora’s box” can force one to use one’s latent talents. New possibilities may open up.

This New Moon prompts us to search for means to adjust our instinctive reactions with our carefully considered plans. Unexpected developments may thwart our strategy. Be prepared for a surprise factor to change your plans.

The New Moon occurred in the midpoint of Pluto and Chiron. The midpoints can be seen as the releasing points of the planets involved. The meaning of those planets is merged in the midpoint. The healing and transformative properties of Pluto and Chiron offer the solution in overcoming the fear of one’s power.

***

Candlemas, one of the Christian holidays, is celebrated on 2 February. The name refers to candles that are blessed on this day for use throughout the year. Originally in the ancient Rome this festival was feasted in honour of Pluto and Ceres. The Romans walked through the city with lighted candles, because Ceres sought her daughter Proserpine in the night in the light of the candles, after Pluto had abducted Proserpine to the underworld.

The year started with a New Moon in Capricorn. Pluto and Mercury were in close conjunction with the Sun and the Moon, and formed a grand cross with Mars in Libra, Uranus in Aries, and Jupiter in Cancer. Also in Cancer, tightly opposed by the luminaries and the other Capricorn planets, is Cyllarus, a faint centaur planet discovered in 1998. Its diameter is assumed to be around 70 km and the orbital period is about 134 years. The presence of Cyllarus emphasizes some of the themes coming up in other aspects of the chart.

Eric Francis connects the theme of things happening “out of nowhere” to Cyllarus. He writes: “Cyllarus reminds us to be conscious of the choices we are making in our lives — particularly the choice to fight, or walk away from one. Cyllarus says that the decisions we make directly affect our relationships, and we need to be conscious of our choices in this context.”

In its discovery chart, Cyllarus is in conjunction with the Main-belt asteroid (4059) Balder, named after the Norse god Baldr, whose mythology bears a notable resemblance to that of Cyllarus. Balder was a young light god, the most beautiful and beloved of the gods. In Greek mythology, Cyllarus is described as a young, handsome Centaur with a golden mane, and loved by many. They both got killed suddenly; Balder was pierced by a flinging twig, Cyllarus hit by a javelin. Their female partners were heartbroken and chose to take their own lives.

At this point I am asking everyone please to keep in mind, that when we seek clues for the meaning of a planet from mythology, the death is always a symbolic one. The old stories can be brutal. In the case of the Centaurs, there is very little told about them in the myths. As a group they attended in a couple of fights, and as a consequence they all died or fled. A death of a Centaur can stand for a crisis in one’s life, which through awareness leads to change and growth, when the person is leaving something old behind and enters into new.

The aspect between the luminaries and Cyllarus is an opposition. The opposition aspect is dealing with polarity. The planets at the opposite ends of the aspect represent struggle between opposite tendencies, but the aspect also brings awareness, as we are able to look straight at what we are dealing with. The opposition often works in our personal relationships, because the aspect has to do with polarity and projection. In projection we unconsciously place our own unacceptable feelings and qualities to someone else, outside us. The opposition gives a chance to grow. Oppositions put us in the place to choose and make decisions.

Mars in Libra focuses the action also in the relationships area. The serious and disciplined nature of the Moon sign, Capricorn, helps to calm down the impulsiveness of some of the aspects. Sometimes it is not easy for us to distinguish what is ours and what is someone else’s. Not every battle is ours. Cyllarus at this New Moon was a little reminder of it. We can choose to walk away.

New Moon in Libra — October 5, 2013, 03:35 UT

The New Moon, the conjunction of the Sun and the Moon, starts the monthly lunation cycle. When the New Moon occurs in conjunction with a planet, the whole month ahead can be colored by the symbolism of that planet.

The New Moon on October 5 was conjoining Typhon, the namesake of the Greek mythological monster, whose name is considered to be a possible etymology for the word describing a tropical cyclone, typhoon. Since the Libra New Moon we have been reading about typhoons, cyclones and earthquakes emerging in different parts of the world. Even in Finland a giant white tornado, though not a natural phenomenon, but caused by an airplane, was seen in the sky and causing wonder. The shape of a spiral is characteristic for Typhon.

The scattered disc object 42355 Typhon was discovered in 2002. Typhon is considered the first known binary centaur, when using an extended definition of a centaur. The companion Echidna was identified in 2006. In Greek mythology Typhon was a terrible monster who was the source of destructive storm winds and volcanic eruptions. He was so huge that his head was said to brush the stars. He shot hot rocks and fire from his mouth. Typhon was trapped beneath Mount Etna in Sicily by Zeus. Echidna was his wife.

When typhoon Fitow made the landfall in China on October 7, 2013, soon after the Libra New Moon, the Sun and Typhon in Libra were in conjunction to the degree. Hundreds of thousands of people had been evacuated before the storm hit the coast. Fitow brought heavy rains, causing power cuts and travel chaos.

Then there was typhoon Nari impacting the Philippines and Vietnam.

Cyclone Phailin prompted India’s biggest evacuation in 23 years. According to hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy, “You really don’t get storms stronger than this anywhere in the world ever. This is the top of the barrel.” On October 12, 2013, Phailin made a landfall in Odesha as a very severe cyclonic storm. Because of the evacuation many lives were saved, but the material loss is massive. People have lost their homes and businesses. Around 12 million people may be affected.

On the same day, October 12, 2013, an earthquake caused panic in Greece. The Greeks are used to quakes, but this one was strong and lasted long. Fortunately, it did not cause any serious damage. The quake occurred near Crete and was felt also in Israel.

On October 15, 2013, a 7.2 magnitude earthquake shook the Philippines, killing more than 140 people and damaging buildings. The next day a powerful typhoon Wipha was threatening Japan. Luckily the storm weakened and passed the islands closely without causing any additional problems to the Fukushima nuclear plant.

Typhon creates ash clouds. We still have fresh in the memory the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland in April 2010, which caused enormous disruption to air travel in Europe over a period of six days. The ash cloud covered large areas of northern Europe sky, and about 20 countries had to close their airspace. When the first small eruption started on March 20, 2010, the Sun was at the Aries point opposing Saturn. Only a week earlier the Sun had opposed Typhon, and then passed over Uranus. The second phase of the eruption started on April 14, 2010, at the New Moon. By then the Sun had travelled to a quincunx aspect to Typhon, crossing Eris (the goddess of disorder) on its way. The ash plume rose to a height of approximately 9 kilometers – like a monster whose head reaches the stars.

A typhoon making its landfall and one of the largest volcanic eruptions of the 20th century occurring at the same place on the same day is what happened in the Philippines on June 15, 1991. The conjunction of the Sun and Typhon was wide, but Typhon was also the focal point of a yod configuration formed by Pluto, Neptune and Typhon. In addition, Typhon was the midpoint of Pholus and Chaos, two other minor planets, which fit in the symbolism of that moment. The ash from the Mount Pinatubo eruption brought total darkness to the area. Typhoon Yunya’s rainfall mixed with the ash and formed a heavy blanket, which made roofs collapse. The effects of the eruption were felt worldwide, as the ashes reached high in the atmosphere.

Another event which happened when the Sun and Typhon were in conjunction was the Palm Sunday tornado outbreak in 1965. It is among the most intense tornado outbreaks ever recorded.

The Sun was squaring Typhon on July 9, 1958, when the largest known tsunami in modern times occurred in Alaska. Because of a big earthquake, a huge amount of rock and ice fell into the Lituya Bay and caused a wave of 516 meters in height. The event is known as the Lituya Bay megatsunami.

There has always been, and will continue to be floods, hurricanes and other extreme weather events. However, human activity like deforestation and burning fossil fuels causes global warming, which increases intense weather phenomena. Just around the New Moon the news told, how a wave of hundreds of small earthquakes has been worrying people in Spain, in an area which normally is not known for seismic activity. A link between the quakes and work on a big offshore gas storage plant is suspected. The plant aims to inject gas in a depleted oil reservoir under the Mediterranean Sea. The Spanish government has now suspended the work.

We feel helpless when facing the force of nature and natural disasters. There’s plenty we can do though as individuals and as part of our community. Not many of us have the courage to face a Russian prison, like Sini Saarela and other Greenpeace activists, for example. But it does not have to be something big, because our everyday choices count.

The first Earth Day celebrations on April 22, 1970, took place when the Sun was conjunct Typhon in the first degree of the earth sign Taurus. Now that degree is occupied by the conjunction of Bienor and 1992 QB1. Bienor can give us strength and initiative to challenge ourselves. The Aries Full Moon last night was a Lunar Eclipse in vicinity of Bienor, and eclipses are famous of their ability to move stuck energy and push us on a new path in life. This is a good time to start listen the Earth and take responsibility of its future, even in small ways.

A New Moon is a conjunction of the Sun and the Moon. The Sun is in its home sign Leo, in the proud and creative fire sign of the zodiac. The Leo New Moon took place in conjunction with two asteroids from two different regions, a main belt asteroid Vesta and a classical Kuiper belt object Sila-Nunam.

Vesta is the brightest visible asteroid, discovered in 1807. It can be seen with the naked eye. The orbital period of Vesta is 3.63 years. There is a huge crater on the surface of Vesta as a result of a collision, which occurred at some point of its history, and which also brought debris from Vesta to Earth.

Vesta in Leo in conjunction with the New Moon emphasizes the focus on the self now. In the Roman mythology Vesta was the goddess of home and hearth, the keeper of eternal flame. Vesta represents devotion and commitment.

79360 Sila-Nunam is a transneptunian object, which was discovered 190 years after Vesta, in 1997. It was named in 2012 after two Inuit deities, Sila and Nunam. In fact, the object is a binary, consisting of two almost equal sized bodies. In a binary system the two objects are orbiting each other around a point in the free space between them. The point is called a barycenter, and it is a point where the bodies balance each other. Sila-Nunam’s orbital period around the Sun is little over 291 years.

When Sila-Nunam was discovered, the binary was in Cancer. The Sun was in Aquarius, strictly opposite the current New Moon’s degree. Vesta was occupying the same degree with the Sun, as it was at the Leo New Moon.

Classical transneptunian objects (cubewanos) are given mythological names associated with creation. Sila, the arctic god of the sky, weather, and life force, represents spirit. Nunam is the Earth goddess, Sila’s wife. Nunam created the land animals (the sea animals were created by Sedna) and the Inuit people. Sila breathed life into the Inuit.

Sila is one of the oldest Inuit deities. In Eskimo language, the word Sila has meanings of universe, outer world, and space. The dominant religious system of the Inuit today is Christianity, but many Inuit still hold to at least to some extent of their traditional religious beliefs. The astronomical facts of Sila-Nunam conform the tradition. The members of the so-called cold classical population of transneptunian objects are thought to have formed very far from the Sun, in the outermost part of the protoplanetary disk. Having formed and remained so far from the Sun, they are thought to preserve solids from that environment in a relatively unaltered state.

Nunam’s affiliation with land animals is reflecting in the news that came from Costa Rica just prior to the current New Moon. Costa Rica plans to close its two public zoos and free the animals to protect wild life. One of the zoos will be transformed into a botanical garden and the other one into a park.

Sila was the god of the sky and weather. In April 2012, at the time when Sila-Nunam stationed direct (April 24, 2012), there were exceptional weather phenomena in the USA and in Britain. The spring storm brought wind, rain and snow to the east coast of the USA. Major League baseball games had to be cancelled, and the space shuttle Enterprise’s landing was delayed. In Britain it was raining and flooding. It was the coldest April in Britain since 1989.

The New Moon on May 06, 2012 was squaring Sila-Nunam. The Finnish Lapland received exceptionally heavy snow, and there were rough thunder storms in the USA.

In the more distant past, the 1980 United States heat wave started at about the same time (June 23, 1980) when the Sun, Vesta and Sila-Nunam formed a triple-conjunction. The devastating period of heat and drought lasted throughout the summer of 1980.

The 1972 Black Hills flood in South Dakota coincides with a conjunction of the Sun, Nessus and Sila-Nunam. The flood was caused by the unusual amount of rain that the area received. The orographic effect helped the air to rise, cool, and release its moisture in repeating thunderstorms. The flood hit Rapid City the hardest around midnight on June 9. The Moon was in triple-conjunction with Varuna (the maker and upholder of heaven and earth) and Crantor (the co-orbital companion of Uranus), and opposing Neptune.

An incident referred as British Airways Flight 9 or the Jakarta incident on June 24, 1982, happened when the Sun was conjunct Crantor and Sila-Nunam. In the chart there was a yod pattern formed by Chiron, Neptune and Pluto. The flight was a scheduled British Airways flight from London to Auckland, during which all four engines of the aircraft failed temporarily. The aircraft flew into a cloud of volcanic ash from the eruption of Mount Galunggung in Indonesia. The reason for the failure was not immediately apparent to the crew. The first engine flamed out at 13:42 UT and three others soon followed. Luckily the plane was able to glide far enough to exit the ash cloud, restart the engines, and land safely in Jakarta.

As examples of individuals born with Sila-Nunam in conjunction with their Sun, showing Sila-Nunam’s creative power, can be mentioned actress Shirley MacLaine, actor-director Ethan Hawke, country music singer Blake Shelton, the Finnish TV-personality Arman Alizad, acrobatic gymnast Kristin Allen, artistic gymnast Rebecca Bross, and the Swiss ski jumper Simon Ammann.

With this Leo New Moon, we can let Sila breathe life into our creative fire and keep the flame alive.