Archive for January, 2013

Full Moon in Leo — January 27, 2013, 04:38 UT

Tuesday, January 29th, 2013

The Moon was full at 7+ degrees Leo in the early morning of 27 Jan 2013. The chart suggests that in order to serve our community or friends, or the group we identify with, we should adjust our own needs to those of the group. We get the help that we need, or we can aid others. If we follow our conscience, major emotional healing can occur.

The Full Moon is an opposition of the Sun and the Moon. An opposition aspect indicates contradiction, confrontation, and polarity. The Sun represents the ego; the Moon is the indicator of our needs. The sign of Leo is typically associated with pride, ambitiousness and a need for recognition, but also with warm generosity. The ruler of Leo is the Sun, which is now in the opposite sign, Aquarius. The Sun is not so self-centered as usual in Aquarius, where cooperation and group effort thrive.

In conjunction with the Moon in Leo are two asteroids, Circe and Askalaphus. The main-belt asteroid Circe is named after the Greek minor goddess of magic, who had vast knowledge of drugs and herbs. According to Martha Lang-Wescott, Circe desires to help, and perceives itself as a facilitator. Asteroid Circe has astrological affinities with planet Jupiter. A Jupiter trojan asteroid Askalaphus is named after a mythical person related to Trojan war, but astrologically this asteroid is often associated with matters of health and healing.

The Leo Moon is in quincunx to Chiron in Pisces. Both the aspect and Chiron have associations with the sign of Virgo. A quincunx refers to the need to adjust something that the planets in question represent. In this case the aspect is a departing quincunx, because the faster moving planet, the Moon, is moving towards the opposition to Chiron. A departing quincunx corresponds to Virgo, the modest sign concerned with service. The sign of Virgo is also associated with health, herbs and healing. Chiron has sometimes been proposed as the ruler of Virgo.

Two main-belt asteroids in Aquarius tightly conjunct the Sun are guiding us to the right and the good, namely Nemesis and Conscience. In Greek mythology, Nemesis was the goddess of divine retribution, but originally the word Nemesis meant the distributor of fortune, neither good nor bad, simply in due proportion to each according to what was deserved. According to astrologer Demetra George, asteroid Nemesis symbolizes our conscience.

Asteroid Conscience is named after Hendrik Conscience, a Belgian writer who lived in the 19th century, so the name of the asteroid is not referring to human conscience. Sometimes the names that are given to asteroids work astrologically very well, although they are chosen quite arbitrarily to honor for example historical figures, scientists, family members or geographical places. Out of curiosity, I researched people who have natally their Sun conjunct asteroid Conscience.

Karen Silkwood was a chemical technician, who worked at the Kerr-McGee Cimarron Fuel Fabrication Site plant making plutonium pellets for nuclear reactor fuel rods. She became labor union activist and discovered numerous violations of health regulations, including exposure of workers to contamination. She died in a suspicious car accident in 1974 just after she had decided to go public with her evidence, and arranged a meeting with a journalist, who was interested in her story. No doubt Karen Silkwood’s decisions were guided by her conscience. In her birth chart asteroid Conscience is exactly conjunct her Sun. The position of her natal asteroid Nemesis at 7+ degrees Gemini is also the discovery degree of asteroid Nemesis.

Another Conscience incarnation is Dave Matthews, the South-African born musician and singer-songwriter, who moved to New York in 1986 to avoid service in the South African military. He is a pacifist. Matthew’s strong social conscience is evident in his lyrics and also in his personal life. He has also Mercury conjunct the strict Sun-Conscience conjunction in Capricorn.

Through the film Schindler’s List by Steven Spielberg many of us know the story of Oskar Schindler, a German industrialist, who saved over 1,200 Jews from death in the gas chambers during the Holocaust by employing them in his factories. Oskar Schindler has a triple-conjunction of Venus, Pluto and Conscience in Gemini. His asteroid Nemesis in Pisces is sextile to his Sun and trine to his North node.

Mohammad Ali, the former heavyweight championship boxer, was born with asteroid Nemesis near his Leo ascendant, opposite his Moon, conjunct Chiron, and sextile to his Jupiter. His asteroid Conscience is at the Galactic Center. Ali converted to Islam in 1964, and refused to take part in the Vietnam War. As a result, his boxing license was suspended and his title was stripped him of. He was not able to box in any state for over three years. Ali has said: “No, I am not going 10,000 miles to help murder, kill, and burn other people to simply help continue the domination of white slave masters over dark people the world over. This is the day and age when such evil injustice must come to an end.”

Aung San Suu Kyi, Nelson Mandela and Veikko Hursti have natal asteroid Nemesis in close conjunction with their Venus. Suu Kyi and Mandela are well known for their exceptional leadership in the fight to promote human rights and human conscience. Suu Kyi’s asteroid Conscience in Scorpio is opposed by her Venus-Nemesis conjunction in Taurus. Mandela’s Venus-Nemesis conjunction in Gemini is on his South lunar node, opposite the Galactic Center.

Veikko Hursti was a well-known Finnish social activist, who over 40 years helped poor, homeless and those who suffered from hunger. After a spiritual awakening he devoted his life to charitable work. Hursti’s Venus-Nemesis conjunction in Libra is opposing his Ceres in Aries and squaring his asteroid Conscience in Capricorn.

New Moon in Capricorn — January 11, 2013, 19:44 UT

Sunday, January 13th, 2013

The first New Moon of the year – the conjunction of the Sun and the Moon — took place in Capricorn and formed an exact square to two potent minor planets in Aries, Eris and Bienor.

The square aspect calls attention. The planets involved in the aspect represent something that one has to deal with. The outcome may be uncertain, and uncertainty usually brings fear, but if you make a serious effort, you may get an opportunity to reach new ground. Squares are aspects of growth. This symbolism is emphasized by the nature of Centaur planet Bienor.

Bienor was discovered in 2000 and named after one of the mythological Centaurs. Its orbit lies between Saturn and Uranus, and crosses that of Uranus.

Bienor’s name means a strong one. In the myth Bienor attended the Lapith king Pirithous’ wedding with other Centaurs. There was a fight, in which many of the Centaurs including Bienor were killed. Bienor’s death is unique and resembles to me of taming of a wild horse, an act which may be frightening for both parties. Ovid describes the killing of Bienor in Metamorphoses: “He [Theseus] leaps upon the back of tall Bienor, never trained to carry riders, and he fixed his knees firm in the centaur’s ribs, and holding tight to the long hair, seized by his left hand, struck and shattered the hard features and fierce face and bony temples with his club of gnarled strong oak.”

Eric Francis has phrased the astrological meaning of Bienor like this: “The death of a Centaur symbolizes transformation and healing and offers us a possibility to move to another level of awareness. In this case, we have a fitting metaphor for the idea of transforming that human quality known as strength. In short, do we put our strength to work for us, or against us?”

PJ Harvey (born Oct 9, 1969, Bridport, UK) is an English musician and singer-songwriter born with an exact Sun-Bienor conjunction in Libra, and in addition the magnifying Jupiter is tightly next to them. Dark Centaur energy comes strongly through in her songs. Harvey is always challenging herself and trying to cover new ground in her music. The Bienor energy crystalizes in her words:

“…it’s always my first goal, not to repeat, and to press myself and challenge myself, and to do things that scare me, that I think I can’t do.”

In another interview she said: “I was just looking for something that was new, something to excite me because it was new, because it was unknown, because it was frightening.”

The energy of Bienor can be mind-opening, or lead to expansion of your circumstances. One of the historical moments colored with Bienor was when Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached the top of Mount Everest, the highest point on Earth in 1953.

Sir Edmund Hillary’s (born Jul 20, 1919, Papakura, New Zealand) natal Bienor is in the persistent sign of Capricorn trine to his Venus (his values). At the time of the conquest of the mountain (May 29, 1953, 11:30 IST, Mount Everest, Nepal), the Sun was in conjunction with Jupiter and Bienor in Gemini. There had been a Full Moon in the adventurous sign of Sagittarius on the day before the last climb, and the Moon was still opposing Bienor when they reached the top. The transiting Bienor was in exact quincunx to Hillary’s natal Bienor. His autobiography is entitled “Nothing Venture, Nothing Win.”

Bienor was present also when Rosa Parks (born Feb 4, 1913) boarded the bus in Montgomery in 1955 and refused to obey the bus driver’s order to give up her seat to a white passenger. Her arrest led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which lasted 381 days, until the city allowed black bus passengers to sit virtually anywhere they wanted. Rosa Parks’ act and the Montgomery Bus Boycott became important symbols of the modern civil rights movement.

Rosa Park’s natal Sun in Aquarius sextiles her Bienor in Sagittarius. The time for her boarding the bus is known (Dec 1, 1955, around 6 p.m., Montgomery, Alabama). At that time Bienor was rising on the ascendant. The transiting North node (the future oriented node) was in Sagittarius conjunct her natal Bienor.

***

“Horses in my dreams
Like waves, like the sea
They pull out of here
They pull, they are free

Rode a horse around the world
Along the tracks of a train
Broke the record, found the gold
Set myself free again

I have pulled myself clear

Horses in my dreams
Like waves, like the sea
On the tracks of a train
Set myself free again

I have pulled myself clear”
– PJ Harvey