The New Moon symbolizes new beginnings, especially in Aries, the first sign of the zodiac which marks the beginning of a new cycle. Aries is the sign of pioneers and warriors, those who have courage to take the initiative, embark the adventure, or test their strength. Being first often requires willingness to take a risk.

The Sun and the Moon are in the same degree with Bienor, a Centaur planet discovered in 2000. The retrograding Venus is in close conjunction with these three. The stellium in Aries is squared by Pluto in Capricorn and opposed by the Main-belt asteroid Karma in Libra. The forenamed Aries planets sextile the North Node of the Moon. The sense of this planet and aspect combination resembles the primitive energy of the rune Ur (Uruz).

The visual symbol of the rune Ur is a wild ox, the aurochs that used to roam the forests of prehistoric Europe. The aurochs was an impressive and dangerous ancestor of domestic cattle. In Norse culture the young men were fighting them in order to claim their manhood. This was an initiation through which they became accepted as adult warriors.

Ur is the symbol of a great challenge, a test that one must face in order for personal growth and progress. It can mean danger, but the trial is a necessary one, and afterwards the person will be stronger and wiser for it. Ur represents raw, primitive and healing energy. According to Freya Aswynn, the force of Ur can be felt in nature just before spring, when one can sense the tension of new growth building up.

Venus is about values, and Venus retrograde in conjunction with the New Moon suggests that the challenge we are facing now has something to do with re-defining of our basic values.

Bienor is a Uranus-crossing Centaur with an orbital period of approximately 67 years. Bienor and Pluto have stayed in an ongoing square to each other for several years; the last exact square in this series happened little over year ago exactly when Bienor was occupying the Aries Point.

Bienor’s name means a strong one. In mythology, Bienor was one of the Centaurs that attended the Lapith king Pirithous’ wedding. Centaurs and the Lapiths started to fight and many of the Centaurs died in this battle. Pirithous’ friend Theseus leaped upon the back of Bienor, which was “never trained to carry riders,� and killed the Centaur. There is something unique in Bienor’s death, because in the myth he is the only Centaur who dies in this way. Centaurs were wild creatures, and the way how Bienor dies resembles a bit taming of a wild horse. It is an insulting act, which at the same time represents something positive.

Eric Francis has proposed that Bienor may be associated with the strength of mankind, and when combined with the Aries Point, something which affects everyman. It is up to us whether to put our strength to work for us, or against us.

Perhaps the myth points us to look for the meaning of Bienor in connection of events that have been unique and happened for the first time in the history of mankind.

In the chart of the first lunar landing in July 1969, when the lunar module Eagle landed on the Sea of Tranquility, the Moon was in early degrees of Libra with Bienor (opposing the Aries Point), mirroring two things: the strong men who bravely set out for the Moon; and the strong feelings involved in this event, not just in the USA but worldwide. Jupiter and Uranus were in conjunction in Libra, exactly opposite the Aries Point. The experience was not just historical for the mankind, but also highly personal for the men who walked on the Moon.

When Martin Luther King in August 1963 delivered his I Have A Dream speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to an audience of at least 250,000, the Sun was conjunct Venus, Uranus and Bienor in Virgo.

John Lennon has a natal Bienor-Typhon conjunction at the Aries Point. John Lennon and Paul McCartney met for the first time in July 1957, three years before forming the Beatles. The same day the Sun was conjunct Bienor in Cancer. I doubt if there is a person in this world who hadn’t been influenced by their music.

President Barack Obama’s Sun in Leo is conjunct Bienor, Bienor right at his descendant. As we all know, he is the first African American to hold the office. President Obama’s strength can be easily perceived.

Nelly Furtado is a Canadian singer and songwriter. Her Sun conjuncts Bienor in Sagittarius, and the conjunction is opposite Varuna and Ceto in Gemini. Furtado is known for experimenting with different instruments, sounds, genres, vocal styles and languages (Sagittarius). She has said: “I always know there’s a new genre left to discover (Ceto symbolizing something constantly re-creating itself). For me, it’s like a metaphor for life (Varuna, a force that is “behind everything”). I feel like if you can get down with any style of music, you can get down with any style of person. So it’s fun for me—I get to expose my fans to different vibes and they, in turn, open their minds too. I’m always undergoing mind-opening.”

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurochs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ur_(rune)

Paul Rhys Mountfort, Nordic runes, Destiny Books, 2003

Freya Aswynn, Northern Mysteries & Magick, Llewellyn Publications, 1998

Metamorphoses by Ovid

Annular Solar Eclipse of Feb. 7, 2008, Lunations article

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1957

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelly_Furtado

Pisces is the realm of Neptune, the Roman king of the ocean. Neptune, as well as the Greek god Poseideon, is often presented in the company of dolphins. There is no sea in the world without dolphins, for Poseidon loves them.

The incident which happened in Queensland in Australia, reported last week worldwide, is a perfect manifestation of the aspects of this New Moon. A dolphin badly injured in a shark attack was escorted by his mate to humans for help.

A pod of wild dolphins comes every night for a feeding ritual at Tangalooma Island Resort. Two male dolphins called Nari and Echo didn’t show up for the nightly feed for three days. Then the pair arrived, Nari with a severe shark bite across the top of his head, and Echo by his side. Dolphin experts say that there is no reason to think other than that Echo stayed with his best friend Nari, waiting till the injured Nari was well enough to swim to the coast. Dolphins are social animals and they can have an extremely strong bond.

Now Nari is taken care of and treated by vets. He is in stable condition and there are high hopes that he will recover and can be released back into the wild, where his friend Echo is waiting for him.

In mythology we meet a dolphin as the messenger of Poseidon. Poseidon wanted to marry Amphitrite, a sea nymph, but she fled to the Atlas Mountains. Poseidon then sent a dolphin to seek her. The dolphin persuaded Amphitrite to agree to the marriage. For his service, Poseidon placed the dolphin amongst the stars as the constellation Delphinus.

The Sun and Moon are now in the compassionate sign of Pisces. In Aquarius, Chiron, the symbol of wounding and healing, is approaching the conjunction with Neptune, the ruler of Pisces. We are now readily able to empathize with the suffering of the fellow companions and pursue the role of a saviour.

Astrologer Marja-Liisa Niemi-Mattila has noted that the archetype of Poseidon has an association with collective power. A pod of small fish is able to defend themselves against much bigger species, for example the sharks, as long as they stay together as a group.

There is still a pile of planets in the humanitarian sign Aquarius, emphasizing the theme of brotherhood and advising us not to leave a friend behind.

In Virgo opposite the Pisces New Moon is the dwarf planet Ceres, the nurturing earth mother, representing the principle of unconditional love and need to care for others, and also our relationship with food. In Roman mythology Ceres is best known as the devoted mother of Proserpina. The daughter was abducted by Pluto and became the queen of the Underworld.

In Greek mythology there is a connection between Demeter, the equivalent of Ceres, and the sea god Poseidon. In an archaic myth, Poseidon once pursued Demeter. She turned herself into a mare so that she could hide in a herd of horses, but he saw through the deception and became a stallion and captured her. Their child was a horse, Arion, which was capable of human speech.

Astrologically, Ceres thrives in Virgo, one of the signs considered as the domain of asteroid Ceres (the other signs are Cancer and the Taurus-Scorpio polarity). Virgo and Pisces are both signs concerned with service and well being of others. The Moon-Ceres aspect is enforcing emotional bonding with the fellow creatures.

Currently there is a rare visitor in Virgo; Comet Lulin, the comet of cooperation, is passing Saturn, and at the time of the New Moon it is already approaching Ceres. Comet Lulin is orbiting backwards compared to most other objects in the solar system.

Minor planet Ceto was prominent in the Solar eclipse chart of January. The eclipse was in an exact square to Ceto in Scorpio. Ceto, named after a marine goddess of whales, sea-monsters and dangers of the deep, is still in the picture, now forming a supportive trine to the Sun and Moon. The name Ceto and the term cetacean come from the same origins. Cetacea is the scientific order of marine mammals, including the whales. Oceanic dolphins are the members of the Delphinidae family of cetaceans.

Plutarch, the Greek essayist and biographer, said: “To the dolphin alone, nature has given that which the best philosophers seek: Friendship for no advantage.” On this Pisces New Moon, let’s try to awaken the dolphin inside us.

References:

Wikipedia

Daily Mail

Theoi Greek Mythology

Sue Tompkins, The Contemporary Astrologer’s Handbook, 2006, Flare Publications

Marja-Liisa Niemi-Mattila, Jumalainen Mies, 2008, WSOY

Demetra George & Douglas Bloch, Asteroid Goddesses, 2003, Ibis Press

Spaceweather.com, Cosmic Coincidence

Mutual Advantage From Protecting Dolphin Friends

The New Moon in Aquarius is a solar eclipse, the first of six eclipses coming this year. The New Moon, which is a conjunction of the Sun and Moon, always marks the beginning of a new cycle. Eclipses are transition points that give us a chance to build new patterns and push ourselves in a new direction. Usually there are four eclipses in a year. Having six of them within one year promises an exceptionally interesting time ahead.

There is a powerful alignment in Aquarius, the sign of friendship, social functions and reformation. Although it is innovative and future-orientated, it’s also one of the fixed signs, which all can be reluctant to change. The planets in the alignment are Juno, Jupiter, the Sun, the Moon, the North Node, Nessus, Chiron and Neptune.

The Sun and Moon, a pair of masculine and feminine symbols in the chart, are in close conjunction with Juno and Jupiter, the celestial married couple, whose expectations towards their relationship didn’t quite meet one another. Juno in Aquarius may want to have an open marriage, while Jupiter wants to focus on mental pursuits.

The eclipse is exactly square to the minor planet Ceto in Scorpio. A square produces action, based on the ongoing tension between the planets aspecting each other. We may find ourselves pondering the following questions: Should we remodel our relationships? Are we going to adopt new roles in the community? Would we rather keep building on traditional values? Are these the values that we want to pass onto our children?

The Sabian symbol for the eclipse degree, Aquarius 7, is “a child born of an eggshell.” To quote Dr. Marc Edmund Jones:

“This is a symbol of the infinite regression in all personal reality, not as a fact of some mysterious loss of self either in source or in final dissolution but as a demonstration of the illimitable potentialities to be found in each immediate moment of self-realization. For his own enlightenment a man may project himself indefinitely into what has been or what may be but his assurance is in the ever-present sustainment of the auric egg or self-matrix in which existence continues to create itself in its own image.”

Ceto is a scattered disk object discovered in 2003 by Chad Trujillo and Mike Brown. It travels on a long, Centaur-like, elliptical orbit around the Sun. The orbital period is over 1000 years. Ceto has a binary companion, Phorcys. They have approximately similar sizes, they form a close binary system, and their mutual orbit is nearly circular.

The names come from Greek mythology. The naming took place in November 2006 according to a new policy. The Committee on Small Body Nomenclature of the International Astronomical Union has adopted a naming convention for objects on unstable, non-resonant, giant-planet-crossing orbits with semi-major axes greater than Neptune’s. Befitting their Centaur-like transitional orbits between TNOs and comets, they are to be named for other hybrid and shape-shifting mythical creatures.

The primary body is named for Ceto, a marine goddess of whales, sea-monsters and dangers of the deep, born of Gaia. In Greek art, Ceto was depicted as a serpentine fish. Sea god Phorcys was her brother and husband. Together they produced a brood of awful monsters.

Mythical sea monsters can take many forms, including dragons, serpents or multi-armed beasts. The word ceto can refer to any sea monster. Often they are pictured threatening ships. Water symbolizes unconscious, and the terrible monster can be seen representing our fears for the unknown future.

Stories about marine monsters are told in myths from different cultures around the world. In Norse mythology the sea serpent Jörmungandr grew so large that it could encircle the world and grasp its tail in its teeth. Jörmungandr represents the Ouroboros, a thousands-of-years-old universal symbol, depicting a serpent swallowing its own tail, constantly creating itself and forming a circle. The Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung saw the Ouroboros as a psychological archetype. The Ouroboros represents cyclicality (especially in the sense of something constantly re-creating itself), self-sufficiency, intergration of the opposite, wholeness, continuity and eternity.

The minor planet Ceto/Phorcys was discovered in Libra, the sign of relationships and the sign where we seek balance and aim at harmonizing polarities. “A Jewish rabbi” is the Sabian Symbol for Libra 20, the discovery degree.

“This is a symbol of man’s self-assurance as gained by bringing a deeper understanding to his fellows. The social nature of the inner being is stressed here by an interest in eternal values such as is characteristic of years and masculinity, and by a feminine receptivity of soul which has its expression in the warmer contacts of a ministration to everyday human needs. Here is the potential of high dedication by which an individual or a group may become a special channel for the aspirations of all. The keyword is heritage. When positive, the degree is the extraordinary insight which comes to those who are able to stand on the shoulders of the giants who have gone before, and when negative, an unhealthy sense of self-superiority.” writes M. E. Jones.

Two examples from the people in the theater field, born with the Sun-Ceto conjunction at the Aries Point are Marcel Marceau (March 22, 1923 – Sept. 22, 2007) and Dario Fo (born March 24, 1926). Both are geniuses whom have constantly been able to re-create themselves and inspire people all over the world.

Marcel Marceau was a French mime artist. The performance of pantomime originates from ancient Greece. In the film First Class, Marcel Marceau played 17 different roles. Marceau established his own mime school in Paris.

Dario Fo is an Italian theater director and actor, who uses methods of the ancient Italian commedia dell’arte. He owns a theater company. His plays have been translated to 30 languages and when they are performed outside Italy, they are often modified to reflect local political issues.

References:

Demetra George & Douglas Bloch, Asteroid Goddesses, 2003, Ibis Press

The Sabian Symbols in Astrology by Dr. Marc Edmund Jones, Aurora Press, 1993

The orbit, mass, size, albedo, and density of (65489) Ceto/Phorcys: A tidally-evolved binary Centaur, Icarus, Retrieved Aug. 31, 2008

Johnston’s Archive

Wikipedia

Theoi Greek Mythology

Hellenica, Michael Lahanas

The New Moon is the time for new beginnings, and this New Moon is an important one. At the moment the sign of Capricorn is packed with planets and asteroids. Any planet in Capricorn tends to behave in a disciplined manner, and in the current setup this is favourable, because some of the planetary combinations can turn out unpredictable. The Capricornian traits like sense of responsibility and sense of order, patience, persistance, industriousness and practicality, should help us to concentrate at work after the holiday break.

Mars has just entered Capricorn and conjoined Pluto. These two planets can sometimes form an explosive combination. On the other hand, Mars can act very focused and courageous now. There is a lot of warrior energy in the chart. The Mars-Pluto conjunction squares the Aries Point, the point of public contact. All this may lead to some extraordinary work results.

Asteroid Bacchus is in conjunction with the Moon, indicating experiences with excesses, or fear of excess. Atlantis is in the stellium, too, referring to the use and abuse of technology.

Together with Mars and Pluto in early Capricorn are asteroids Pandora, Psyche and Photographica. This combination suggests heightened awareness to visual images, whether they well from our subconscious or some external source.

Asteroid Psyche has affinities to the Moon and Pluto. Pandora has an Uranian flavour and it can stir our curiosity and lead us to unexpected paths. She is an agent of change and opens up new possibilities. Demetra George has called asteroids Pandora and Icarus the Liberators. Also Icarus is now in Capricorn. Icarus represents the principle of risk taking, so maintaining your composure and avoiding any extremes is recommened.

The Sun and Moon are in a tight quincunx to asteroid Pallas in Gemini. In mythology Pallas Athene is a goddess of wisdom, the creative planner. According to Demetra George, Pallas Athene in Gemini is a warrior with words. In the air sign she is at home, but the irritating quincunx indicates a need for adjustment before we can put our feelings into words acceptable to others.

In the other Mercury ruled sign, Virgo, is asteroid Urania trining the Luminaries. In mythology Urania is one of the Nine Muses. She is associated with astrology, astronomy and mathematics. This heavenly thinker can inspire us to deep theorethical ponderings.

Mercury and Jupiter are in conjunction in the latter degrees of Capricorn. Mercury has already entered the echo phase, preparing to station retrograde in January. Now it is still approaching Jupiter, and the exact conjunction is going to take place on the last day of the year. Mercury, the planet of mentality and communication trines closely the trans-Neptunian planet Logos, described as “the soul of technology” by Eric.

For the counterbalance of all this heavy mental energy, the exact Venus-Neptune conjunction in the friendly and sociable sign Aquarius is providing us inspirational love and feelings of compassion to benefit our brothers and sisters.

Saturn, the ruler of Capricorn, is still in opposition to Uranus and conjunct Typhon. At the moment Saturn is doing something rare and beautiful. Just before Christmas the NASA Science News informed us about Saturn’s “startling metamorphosis.” According to the article, all year long, the rings of Saturn have been tilting toward Earth, and now they are almost perfectly edge-on. This happens once every 14 to 15 years. Because the rings are so thin, they can actually disappear from sight when viewed through a backyard telescope. The precise moment is not until Sept. 4, 2009, but then Saturn will be too close to the Sun for the observation. The best time to look is now!

References:

Sue Tompkins, The Contemporary Astrologer’s Handbook, 2006, Flare Publications

Eric Francis, The Personal is Political

Martha Lang-Wescott, Mechanics of the Future: Asteroids, 1996, Treehouse Mountain

Demetra George & Douglas Bloch, Asteroid Goddesses, 2003, Ibis Press

Eric Francis, The Atlantis Factor

Saturn’s Crazy Christmas Tilt

This is a momentous New Moon, the first one occurring after Pluto’s ingress from Sagittarius to Capricorn, where he is going to stay for the next 15 years. The ingress takes place in the early hours of Nov. 27 (UT). Later on the same day the stationing Uranus in Pisces turns direct almost simultaneously with the New Moon in Sagittarius. A clearance from the past is close at hand now.

A significant stellium in the adventurous, enthusiastic and optimistic fire sign Sagittarius is steering us in the beginning of our journey in the new landscape. Besides the Sun and Moon, there are also Mercury and Mars in Sagittarius. Mercury is the planet of communication and all mental activity, and Mars represents initiative and drive. We are able to see the big picture and reach for our highest goals self-confident.

The Moon is at 5+ degrees of Sagittarius, and the Sabian Symbol for this is Sagittarius 6: A game of cricket. The keyword sportsmanship is emphasizing the importance of cooperation and fair play in our actions.

Two Centaur planets, Hylonome and Pholus, are in Sagittarius as well. Tightly in conjunction with the New Moon and Mercury is Hylonome, named after one of the few female Centaurs in mythology. She was a beautiful and civilized centauress in love with a young centaur named Cyllarus. He was wounded by a spear in battle and died in the arms of his beloved. In her despair Hylonome killed herself by throwing herself onto the same spear that had pierced her partner.

All myths are metaphors. A death of a Centaur means transformation. It is a powerful image of letting go of the past and entering a new level or new phase in life. Astrologically, Hylonome may signify feelings of grief and loss, and healing from grief. She is also said to signify an exceptional need for acceptance. Eric Francis has written that Hylonome is counseling against being a martyr. She may now be reminding us not to sacrifice ourselves or our principles in the name of being a team player or for the acceptance of others.

Mars is in close conjunction with Pholus. Pholus symbolizes the energy of sudden release, opening the container and letting something out. He addresses themes involving multi-generational patterns. Curiosity and spontaneity are also qualities of Pholus. Melanie Reinhart writes in Saturn, Chiron and the Centaurs:

“I wonder whether a Pholus impulse might mean that we jump at an opportunity which turns out to be not just an illusion, but which leads to catastrophe. And sometimes it is a necessary catastrophe, like the felix culpa — the fortunate mistake. Given the prenatal and regressive connection here, we might be acting out deep prenatal or ancestral urges, which will be seeking resolution as part of our path, evoked alongside our destiny.”

In The Pisces Point (the annual for 2003) Eric wrote:

“Pholus is offering a measure of curiosity about why we’re in pain, and allowing rapid sequences of change once we act on that curiosity. Hylonome is offering support for our crisis of faith: we’ve been hurt so many times, how could we ever be happy? If we do the work of Pholus, that is, investigate and let what we learn change us, the work of Hylonome will be easier. We will learn that it’s possible not to be hurt in the sense of negligence or abuse. Some hurts are avoidable.â€?

Together with Pluto in the first degree of Capricorn, square the Aries Point is asteroid 55555 DNA, a Main-belt asteroid discovered in 2001. The Pholus theme of patterns involving several generations gets a magnification here. Deoxyribonucleic acid, DNA, is the code that contains the genetic information of all living organisms. It is responsible for the transmission of hereditary characteristics. DNA chains are spiral shaped, consisting of two long chains of nucleotides twisted into a double helix joined by hydrogen bonds.

The binary Centaur Typhon has something in common with the energies discussed above. In the New Moon chart Typhon is tightly conjuncted by Saturn and opposed by Uranus.

Typhon is often referred as a Centaur planet. Actually, it is a scattered disc object with an orbit of 233 years. Typhon is a binary. The companion’s name is Echidna. The binary system seems to be more tightly bound than most other known binaries. Typhon crosses the orbits of Uranus and Neptune and thus has encountered the giant planets countless times in the past. The binary pair should have split apart because of the gravity, but for some reason the two stick together.

In Greek mythology Echidna was Typhon’s wife. Hesiod (a Greek poet who may have lived around 700 BCE or earlier) describes Echidna as “a nymph who dies not nor grows old all her days.� Typhon and Echidna were both monsters.

Typhon was a son of Gaia and Tartaros. He was so huge that his head was said to brush the stars. He had two coiled vipers in place of legs, and in place of fingers were a hundred serpent heads, fifty per hand. He hurled red-hot rocks at the sky and storms of fire boiled from his mouth.

Mythical Typhon lives beneath mount Etna in Sicily. He is said to be the cause of volcanic eruptions and the father of hot dangerous storm winds. His name is considered to be a possible etymology for the word “typhoon.”

I have found Typhon quite interestingly situated in the charts of some mundane events of the recent years. In the case of the Tsunami in 2004, the landfall of Super Typhoon Durian in the Philippines in 2006, and California wildfires in 2007, the scale of devastation was as huge as the mythical Typhon was. A couple of weeks ago the transit of Uranus opposite Saturn-Typhon conjunction was more accurate than what it is now, and since then we’ve seen news informing us about wild fires in California again, and a tsunami warning in Indonesia following an earthquake.

Recently I saw a TV documentary about Etna. The pressure in the heart of the volcano increases until eventually the crust gives in, and hot lava bursts out. I was thinking about Typhon while I was watching, and how descriptive the ancient myth really is! The eruption was an unforgettable sight, the red fire and big rocks shooting hundreds of meters high on the sky. It was incredibly beautiful!

An erupting volcano can send out a spiral shaped ash plume, and hurricanes blow in spiral shape. Philip Sedgwick mentions kundalini in his keywords for Typhon. It is a yoga term meaning the life force, and the symbol for the kundalini energy is a spiral. This energy may be “awakened,” and it may bring psychological illumination, or higher consciousness.

References:

The Sabian Symbols in Astrology by Dr. Marc Edmund Jones, Aurora Press, 1993
Wikipedia
Saturn, Chiron and the Centaurs, Melanie Reinhart, CPA Press, 2002
Mark A. Holmes’ Astrology Pages
The Pisces Point, Eric Francis, 2003
Read about Sedna, Pholus and Nessus, ASR, Eric Francis
The Theoi Project
CNN.com
www.philipsedgwick.com

Water to land folk seems never-ending
when they set sail on a heaving ship;
the huge waves overwhelm them
and the seahorse won’t heed the bridle.

— Old English Rune Poem

Scorpio is the intense water sign that is related to stuff mostly dark and deep. However, water is the sustainer of life. Scorpio is the sign of death and resurrection. It is the place in the zodiac where the transformation occurs.

We are definitely entering a new era. Pluto, the modern ruler of Scorpio, is in Sagittarius, but it is in the last degree of the sign, about to enter Capricorn. The sign change takes place on November 27. In Aquarius two Centaur planets, Chiron and Nessus, have stationed direct by this New Moon.

The New Moon always signifies the beginning of a new cycle. The cosmic energies for the following month are set at the New Moon. This lunation is strongly colored by three Kuiper Belt objects in tight aspect to the Sun and Moon. These three minor planets are Deucalion, Echeclus and Asbolus. We can trust that they will carry us safely to the new phase.

Deucalion, a trans-Neptunian minor planet of the cubewano class is conjunct the New Moon in Scorpio. According to the naming rules of the International Astronomical Union, cubewanos are given mythological names associated with creation. Deucalion was discovered in 1999, and named in 2003. The name comes from the Greek flood story that parallels the Judeo-Christian story of Noah’s Ark.

In the myth, Zeus had decided to destroy humankind. A pouring rain from the heavens flooded the world, so that all men were destroyed, except Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha. They had been forewarned of the deluge and built an ark. Some sources suggest that Deucalion is to be identified with Aquarius, the water bearer. The rains of the water bearer are a gift from the gods.

Deucalion and Pyrrha drifted to the high mountains, where an oracle told them to “throw the bones of their mother” behind them. They decided that their mother is Gaia and stones are her bones. They threw rocks behind their shoulders, and the rocks formed people and repopulated the Earth. Those thrown by Pyrrha became women; Deucalion’s became men.

Centaur planet Echeclus is in conjunction with the Sun, Moon and Deucalion. Echeclus shares a special astronomical feature with Chiron. Both have been given a double designation as a Centaur and a comet.

Echeclus was discovered in 2000 and initially classified as a minor planet. Then in December 2005, a cometary coma was detected around it. Apparently a chunk of its body was broken off, causing a great cloud of dust. After the cometary outburst the Centaur was officially designated as a periodic comet and renamed 174P/Echeclus. 95P/Chiron was the first Centaur known to have cometary activity.

Comets are like dirty snowballs. They are small icy bodies orbiting the Sun in an elliptical orbit. In the outer solar system, comets remain frozen and invisible. The coma and tail are formed of ice and dust when the comet approaches the Sun and the comet warms. Both the coma and tail become illuminated by the sunlight when the comet travels through the inner solar system. Echeclus comes to its perihelion, the point in its orbit that is closest to the Sun, in 2015.

Astrologically, Echeclus hasn’t been studied very widely. We know that all Centaurs are dealing with the shadow and healing. One of the important keywords for Chiron is awareness. The astronomical similarity of these two Centaurs is perhaps pointing to an important astrological resemblance, too. Anyway, comets seem to be heralding a change.

In Taurus, the Centaur planet Asbolus is in accurate opposition to the Moon and the planets mentioned above. In mythology Asbolus was a seer, who made forecasts from the flight formations of birds. His name means carbon dust. Eric Francis has noticed that Asbolus is a point that shows up in the charts of survivors. Survival, the ability to endure and the blessing of protection even when it seems like none is there, are attributes for Asbolus.

It can be scary to plunge the deep water, but we need to do it if we want to reach a new shore. We are protected.

References:

Nordic runes, Paul Rhys Mountfort, Destiny Books, 2003

Deucalion, Wikipedia

Tarot and the Sign of Aquarius, Tony Louis, StarIQ

60558 Echeclus, Wikipedia

The Comet’s Tale, 2006 April

Asbolus, Wikipedia

Sagittarius Secrets Revealed, Eric Francis

By Kirsti Melto and Eric Francis

At the Libra New Moon the overall emphasis of the sky remains in the sign of balance and justice, as the world seems to need these things more than ever. While Venus has changed signs and moved into Scorpio, it’s forming an exact semisextile aspect (30 degrees) to the lunation in Libra. Mercury and Mars are still in Libra with the Sun and Moon. Mercury is now retrograde (through Oct. 15). The newest member of the dwarf planet category, Haumea, is in Libra, too. Haumea is in wide conjunction with the New Moon.

Venus and Mars are in mutual reception, each occupying one another’s signs. Traditional astrology cautions that both are weakly placed in their signs; Venus is in its detriment in Scorpio, and Mars is in its detriment in Libra. This is a fitting image of the locked-in pessimism associated with the global economic crisis currently unfolding.

On Sept. 17, 2008, a trans-Neptunian minor planet previously known as 2003 EL61 was classified as the fifth dwarf planet in our solar system and named Haumea, after the goddess of childbirth and fertility in Hawaiian mythology.

The four recognized known dwarf planets are Ceres, Pluto, Eris and Makemake.

The discussion about the planet definition and about Pluto’s status continues. The official definitions can be obscure, so let’s briefly recall the astronomical facts.

In August 2006 the International Astronomical Union (IAU), which approves names and categories of celestial bodies, gathered in Prague and approved the first-ever definition of a planet. As a result, Pluto’s designation was changed from planet to a new category, dwarf planet. The first members of this category were Ceres, Pluto and Eris. At the time, Eris had not yet received a proper name and was known as 2003 UB313. That left eight “official” planets in our solar system: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn (the classical planets of antiquity), plus Uranus and Neptune (two of the modern planets).

The Prague meeting recognized the dwarf planet Pluto as an important prototype of a new class of trans-Neptunian objects. The the IAU would set up a process to name them.

In June 2008 the IAU chose the name “plutoid” as name for Solar System objects like Pluto, i.e. dwarf planets that orbit beyond Neptune. Only the brightest of the dwarf planets fit in this category though. The two known and named plutoids at the time were Pluto and Eris. The two other objects discovered by this point that qualified as a plutoid were 2003 EL61 (which became Haumea) and 2005 FY9 (which became Makemake). The dwarf planet Ceres, located in the main asteroid belt, is the only object of its kind, so a separate category of Ceres-like dwarf planets was not proposed. Ceres is unusual because it accounts for one-third of the mass of the entire inner asteroid belt.

In July 2008 the IAU gave the name Makemake to the object formerly known as 2005 FY9 and officially made it the newest member of the plutoid family and also classified it as the fourth dwarf planet in our Solar System.

On September 17, 2008, the IAU announced that the object previously known as 2003 EL61 was classified as the fifth dwarf planet and named Haumea. The two moons of Haumea were named Hi’iaka and Namaka.

Haumea is one of the three bright objects whose existence was announced in July 2005. The two other bodies were Eris and Makemake. Mike Brown’s team — the discoverers of Haumea — nicknamed it “Santa,â€? because they were observing it around Christmas in 2004.

Haumea was discovered on December 28, 2004 — two days after the Asian tsunami. In the discovery chart of Haumea it is located in a tight conjunction with asteroid 8543 Tsunemi. Of course, the name Tsunemi originally has nothing to do with tsunamis. The JPL Small-Body Database tells me that asteroid Tsunemi was named after Hiroshi Tsunemi from Osaka University, a scientist who has worked in X-ray astronomy.

Astrologer Jacob Schwartz has noticed that sometimes the names of asteroids work very well, although they are chosen seemingly whimsically to honor colleagues, family members, familiar places, etc. “The sounds of names ascribed by these astronomers carry a cycle of meaning relating to events and experiences far beyond the meaning intended by the scientists who named them,” he writes.

In this New Moon chart Haumea is together with asteroid 916 America at 14+ Libra. The focus of the whole world at the moment is on the economic crisis and the presidential election in the USA. Note that 14+ Libra was the ascendant of the chart of the Sept. 11 false flag attacks. The planet Mercury was rising at the time, also located precisely in that degree.

Haumea is named after the goddess of childbirth and fertility in Hawaiian mythology. The Sabian Symbol for the discovery degree for 12+ Libra is beautiful and aptly speaks about children: Libra 13. Children blowing soap bubbles.

“This is a symbol of man’s reassurance through the presence of the beautiful and the good in every least promising form of human relationship,” Marc Edmund Jones writes in his book of Sabian symbols. “People are disposed kindly toward their fellows, but there is no growth in the mere rhythm of everyday routine, and human individuality knows it must be up and at the business of selfhood whether constructively or otherwise. Implicit in the symbolism is the challenge to rise above childish things while yet clinging to childlike ways. The keyword is enchantment. When positive, the degree is a consistent simplicity of character which enables anyone to maintain his touch with a transcendental magic of being, and when negative, a constant and idle daydreaming.”

Haumea is one of the strangest objects in the Solar System. It is the third largest Kuiper Belt object after Eris and Pluto. In the very distant past another object probably slammed into Haumea at high speed, and this giant impact led to all of its odd properties.

Haumea is the fastest rotating body and also the most bizarrely shaped body of its size class. The rotation period is only about four hours. The shape of Haumea is therefore stretched out and resembles an American football. The rotation time is near the point where body of this size starts to break down.

Haumea has two tiny moons. In mythology Hi’iaka and Namaka are two of Haumea’s children. Hi’iaka was born from the mouth of Haumea and carried by her sister Pele in egg form from their distant home to Hawaii. She danced the first Hula on the shores of Puna and is the patron goddess of the island of Hawaii and of hula dancers. Namaka is a water spirit, who was born from the body of Haumea. When Pele sends her burning lava into the sea, Namaka cools the lava to become new land.

Haumea’s many children sprang from different parts of her body. She takes many different forms and has experienced many different rebirths. the Kuiper Belt object Haumea is followed in its orbit around the Sun by a swarm of icy bodies that were originally ejected from the surface of Haumea during the giant impact. According to Mike Brown the goal is to name also these members of the family specifically after other mythical children of Haumea.

The goddess Haumea represents the element stone. Observations of the dwarf planet Haumea hint that, unusually, it is almost entirely composed of rock. Most things out in the Kuiper Belt (the band of space that Pluto occupies) are about equal portions of rock and of ice, but, apparently, Haumea has only a thin icy outer shell and the interior is rock.

Haumea is on an unstable orbit and possibly becomes a comet one day in the future, in perhaps a billion years. According to its discoverer, Mike Brown, it will probably be 10,000 times brighter than the spectacular comet Hale-Bopp, making it something like the brightness of the Full Moon and easily visible in the daytime sky.

Astrologers never demoted Pluto. Many of them are now working to establish also the astrological meaning of Haumea. This is a long process. Eric Francis has summed up the process of understanding a new planet excellently in his answer to a curious reader a couple of years ago: How Can Astrologers Already Interpret Xena’s Meaning?

References:

News Release – IAU0603: IAU 2006 General Assembly: Result of the IAU Resolution votes

News Release – IAU0804: Plutoid chosen as name for Solar System objects like Pluto

News Release – IAU0806: Fourth dwarf planet named Makemake

News Release – IAU0807: IAU names fifth dwarf planet Haumea

Mike Brown’s Planets

Haumea

The Significance of Asteroids by Jacob Schwartz

The Sabian Symbols in Astrology by Dr. Marc Edmund Jones, Aurora Press, 1993

How Can Astrologers Already Interpret Xena’s Meaning? by Eric Francis

The second New Moon of the month takes place in Virgo conjunct Saturn. Criticism can be strong in Virgo, and Saturn in conjunction with the Sun and Moon can add to this, increasing our self-criticism and feelings of inadequacy. We may be exceptionally defensive and reserved.

There is also a strong emphasis in the neighboring sign Libra, the sign of relationships. Mercury, Venus and Mars — which all are personal planets — are there, so it is natural that much of the self-doubt will emerge in the area of relationships. Now we need to be especially aware of our projections, and not estrange our closest family members or friends because of unnecessary, ill-founded self-criticism. Trust yourself, and avoid exaggerating your emotions. Also, try not to over-analyze your relationships.

Every New Moon is a conjunction of the Sun and Moon. Any planet conjunct or opposite the New Moon gives a strong flavor to it. This time, in opposition to the Sun and Moon is Borasisi, a relatively recently-named minor planet in the Kuiper Belt region.

Borasisi was discovered in 1999 at 25+ degrees of Aquarius, where we had the Lunar eclipse just two weeks ago (at 24+ Aquarius). Borasisi is a binary planet, a pair of objects orbiting around their common center of mass, the barycenter. The components have relatively similar size. The companion’s name is Pabu and it was identified in 2003. The naming took place about a year ago. The astrological meaning of this trans-Neptunian binary is not well established yet, but something about the name and the symbolism can be said.

According to Philip Sedgwick, among his positive interpretive keywords for Borasisi are “sense of authority, dominion, mandates, confidence to declare personal power, open-minded, captain-like attitude, quick orders and delegation.”

Minor planets in Borasisi’s class (cubewanos) are usually given mythological names associated with creation. Borasisi makes an interesting exception, for the name comes from Kurt Vonnegut’s novel Cat’s Cradle, meaning the Sun in a fictional cosmogony of Bokononism:

“…wherein Borasisi, the sun, held Pabu, the moon, in his arms, and hoped that Pabu would bear him a fiery child.

But poor Pabu gave birth to children that were cold, that did not burn; and Borasisi threw them away in disgust. These were the planets, who circled their terrible father at a safe distance.

Then poor Pabu herself was cast away, and she went to live with her favorite child, which was Earth. Earth was Pabu’s favorite because it had people on it; and the people looked up at her and loved her and sympathized.”

On a symbolic level, Borasisi is now offering us a peculiar and unique chance to experience both the New Moon and the Full Moon at the same time; in Virgo we have the conjunction of the Sun and Moon, and directly opposite in Pisces is Borasisi-Pabu, symbolically also representing the Sun and Moon. (On the Full Moon, the Sun and Moon are opposite each other.)

An opposition aspect symbolizes polarity and projection, which manifests in relationships. This can mean confrontation, but it also provides a great deal of awareness.

In Vonnegut’s novel, the foundation of the fictional religion of Bokononism is based on living by the untruths that make one happy; people tend to see what they want to. Currently with three planets in Libra, the urge for peace and harmony is very strong. We may be tempted try maintaining peace and balance at any cost. Closing one’s eyes from an unpleasant truth, or telling white lies is not the best solution in the long haul.

Don’t automatically believe everything you are told now. Though it is not always easy to distinguish the truth from a lie, Virgo is famous for its common sense and analytical ability to sort out the wheat from the chaff.

By Kirsti Melto

Eclipses offer us a chance to have a break in continuity and establish new patterns. “The more consciously eclipses are handled, the less they are inclined to do damage and the more they are inclined to give us a push in the right direction,” Eric wrote in his blog earlier this week.

Choosing a new direction in life, or moving stuck energy, may not be easy: this is true when planets are gathered in fixed signs, or when the eclipse takes place on the South Node of the Moon, which tends to keep us tied to the past, or even when a Venus-Neptune opposition bedims reality. Luckily, this somewhat paradoxical eclipse chart also contains aspects that have the potential to bring us safely to a new space.

Leo, Aquarius, Taurus and Scorpio are the four fixed signs of the zodiac. The eclipse, which is a conjunction of the Sun and Moon, occurs in Leo conjunct Mercury. Also Venus is in Leo. In the opposite sign, Aquarius, are Neptune and Chiron. Two important asteroids, Vesta and Pallas Athene are in Taurus. So we are dealing with a lot of fixed energy, which tends to keep us stuck in the prevailing ideas and conditions; a change is not alluring. But the fixed signs can be persistent, and Mars-Uranus opposition strives for a reform.

Each eclipse is a member of a larger eclipse family, which is called the Saros Series. Each series spans over a thousand years, produces an eclipse every 18 years, and has certain characteristics, revealed by the aspects in its birth chart. You may be able to recognize some similarities between events that occurred 18 years ago and those unfolding now. This particular eclipse belongs to a Saros Series number 10 South. Bernadette Brady’s delineation encourages us in the attempt to let go of the past:

“This Saros Series concerns itself with breaking out of a very negative situation where no hope can be seen to a more positive space containing many options. A worry that may have been affecting a person will suddenly clear. The solution is shown by the Cosmos and needs to be taken up without too much delay.”

Traditionally, astrologers would appoint the Lord of the Eclipse, the planet that was most prominent in the chart, supposedly coloring the future events. This could be the planet closest to the eclipse degree, a planet at an angle, or the one that is most heavily aspected. By the rule, the Sun and Moon cannot be used. There are two things that emphasize Mercury as the Lord of the Eclipse: Mercury is in conjunction with the eclipse, and Mercury being occulted by the Moon just some hours after the solar eclipse.

Hermes, the Greek equivalent for Roman Mercury, an expert in transformations, was a swiftly moving deity, a messenger of gods who was able to travel through three worlds; just as the metal mercury — also known as quicksilver — can be seen in the three states of matter: solid, liquid and vapor.

In the eclipse chart, Mercury (as well as the Sun and Moon) is squaring Vesta in Taurus. In Scorpio, asteroid Hermes is opposite Vesta and square to Mercury. Hestia, meanwhile, is the Greek equivalent for Vesta.

Hermes and Hestia are two complementary archetypes. In ancient Greece, a warm hearth dedicated to Hestia was central to every home, and at the front door was a pillar in honor of Hermes. Hestia represents focus and integrity, and Hermes represents motion and changeability. Together this couple expresses tension, as do the aspects between them in the chart. But Hermes is also the archetype unifying the opposites, and he is also capable of enlarging our possibilities.

Centaur planet Asbolus is in conjunction with Vesta in Taurus. Eric has delineated Asbolus as: “Survival and the recognition of having survived. Deep contact with something organic and essential — the ability to endure and even thrive ‘despite it all’. Asbolus arrives with intense circumstances but also protection from victimhood, and protection even when it seems like none is there, such as in the story ‘Footsteps’.”

The Sabian Symbol for the eclipse degree is Leo 10 Early morning dew. “This is a symbol of the eternal refreshment which comes to the individual with every recurrent cycle of his experience, and of nature’s continual endorsement of his aims or benediction on his efforts. There are unexpected resources which man can find at hand when life otherwise may seem to have defeated him, and these are often revealed to him despite his lack of expectation. He reaps real fruits as he develops a genuine alertness to the unexpected, and denies all personal limitation. The keyword is rejuvenation. When positive, the degree is a special talent for finding the better in every situation where a worse may threaten disaster, and when negative, procrastination and total insensibility to the real powers of selfhood.”

References:

Bernadette Brady, The Eagle and the Lark, Samuel Weiser, 1999

Derek Appleby and Maurice McCann, Eclipses: the power points of astrology, The Aquarian Press, 1989

Nick Kollerstrom, The Metal-Planet Relationship, Borderland Sciences Research Foundation, 1993

Marja-Liisa Niemi-Mattila, Ajattomat arkkityypit, WSOY, 1998

Planet Wiki, Asbolus

Marc Edmund Jones, The Sabian Symbols in Astrology, Aurora Press, 1993

By Kirsti Melto

The Moon feels very, very comfortable in its own sign, the feminine water sign Cancer, surrounded by emotional and nurturing planets Ceres and Venus.

Cancer is the most feminine of all signs: it is the sign of the mother, the house, the home and the family. It is also the sign of the community and the homeland. Patriotism can be strong in Cancer. In this sign there is a need for roots and continuity, and an urge to belong to something. Cancer wants to remember the past. Strong roots and the feeling of being part of something offer a sense of security, which is essential for Cancer.

Protectiveness, nursing and nourishment are important in Cancer. This activity can be channeled not just towards close family members, but also friends, pets, plants and one’s environment.

Personal, emotional planets like the Moon, Venus and Ceres are at home and at their best in Cancer.

The Moon is the ruler of Cancer. The Moon represents our instincts and feelings. The Moon in Cancer is sensitive (sometimes over-sensitive), protective and mothering.

Ceres is the Earth Mother. It is the planet resembling the Moon and Cancer more than any other planet, but perhaps functioning a bit more on a practical level, because it has a strong association with agriculture, cereal plants and food. Summer is the season when the mother and daughter are united, and nature is celebrating and providing its abundance.

Also Venus in Cancer needs to nurture and be part of a family. It seeks security, just like the Moon does. It is loyal to family, friends and home country.

Venus in this New Moon chart is in the same degree with Varuna, one of the water deities, the energy that is too large to comprehend, but which somehow touches us personally. According to Eric Francis, Varuna seems to be “something that works on our own level and responds in a direct way to real human needs. I think of Varuna as a force that we invoke personally; we ask for the help of this seemingly invisible energy, and it responds.”

To me this resembles much support of the loving mother, which carries us through life. The conjunction of Venus and Varuna in receptive Cancer points also to the importance of reciprocation, to give and to receive.

The Sabian Symbols are a degree-by-degree symbolic reference system that helps illustrate and demonstrate the level of astrology that is symbolic. The Sabian Symbol for the degree of this New Moon is Cancer 12, A Chinese woman nursing a baby with a message. According to Dr. Marc Edmund Jones: “When positive, the degree is a gift for bringing the more Godlike resources or superior powers of self to a point of real community service, and when negative, completely unreasonable demands for recognition.”

Jupiter in Capricorn is opposing the stellium of the Cancer planets. (A stellium is an astrological term for a group of three or more planets in conjunction in one sign.) Jupiter expands everything it touches. Jupiter opposed by the Moon and Venus can mean protective and nurturing love, but also overflowing feelings and over-sensitivity. Exaggeration or excess can result, especially in an opposition aspect, which also has potential for extremism. Try to avoid this. We tend to project our own feelings to other people. Awareness is one of the important and helpful keywords of oppositions.

Jupiter in Capricorn can manifest also as responsibility, reliability and sense on duty, which assists the New Moon in Cancer very nicely.

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To the readers in the USA I want to wish you a pleasant Fourth of July!