Archive for August, 2020

New Moon in Leo — August 19, 2020, 02:42 UT

Wednesday, August 19th, 2020

The New Moon at 26+ Leo is in conjunction with Mercury and opposite 5335 Damocles at 26+ Aquarius. The New Moon is in a flowing trine to the exact Mars-Eris conjunction in Aries. The New Moon forms a tight, irritating quincunx to Saturn in Capricorn. The people of Belarus are living this play of planets right now.

5335 Damocles is the namesake of the damocloids, the odd group of small bodies, like aggressive centaurs. Its orbit reaches from inside the aphelion of Mars to outside Uranus. When it was discovered in 1991, it was found to be on an orbit completely different from all others known.

According to the official naming citation, “Legend has it that Damocles, a courtier of the tyrant Dionysius the Elder of Syracuse, was invited to a feast, where he was seated below a sword suspended by a thread. Intended to demonstrate the impermanence of power, the ‘sword of Damocles’ has become a symbol of impending disaster. This minor planet, in an unusual orbit of very high eccentricity and inclination and crossing the orbits of Mars to Uranus, could itself be seen as such a sword during periods of its orbital evolution when it becomes an earth crosser.”

“The Sword of Damocles” is the metaphor for the imminent and ever-present peril faced by those in positions of power. It is often used also in a broader sense, and simply meaning an unexpected peril.

The orbital period of 5335 Damocles around the Sun is nearly 41 years. However, astrologically it spends most of it, around 30 years, in Aquarius, and hurries through the eleven other signs of the zodiac in about ten years. On the current round Damocles made its final ingress from Capricorn to Aquarius in 1994. In April 2021 it will visit Pisces for the first time, and by 2026 has ingressed Pisces entirely.

Belarus declared independence on Aug. 25, 1991. President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko (in office since 1994) is the last dictator of Europe. The election on Aug. 9, 2020, as with previous elections, was not free and fair. The opponents are repressed, the media is not free, and journalists and demonstrators have been brutally beaten. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the opposition candidate has claimed to won the election. The protest on Aug. 16 gathered 100,000 – 200,000 people on the streets of Minsk, demanding the departure of Lukashenko.

In the independence chart of Belarus, Mercury; Jupiter; and Venus are at 25+ — 27+ degrees of Leo, and the transiting Damocles in Aquarius has been hovering opposite them for a few years now (because of the retrogradation phenomenon). The natal Sun of Belarus is at 1+ degrees of Virgo. President Lukashenko’s natal Pluto is at 25+ Leo and his natal Sun at 6+ degrees of Virgo. Is Lukashenko’s dictatorship coming to an end soon now, or will the Sword of Damocles hit later when the transiting Damocles reaches Pisces and starts to oppose both the Sun of Belarus and the Sun of Lukashenko?

People with prominent Damocles:

John Profumo (Jan. 30, 1915 – March 9, 2006) was a British politician whose career ended in 1963 after a sexual relationship with the 19-year-old model Christine Keeler – Sun, Mars and Uranus conjunct Damocles in Aquarius.

James Dean (February 8, 1931 – September 30, 1955) was an American actor, who died in a car crash. – Sun conjunct Damocles in Aquarius.

Sauli Niinistö (born Aug. 24, 1948) is President of Finland (in office since 2012). Niinistö and his two sons narrowly survived the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. They were in Khao Lak, Thailand, and survived by climbing up and down an electricity pylon and adjusting themselves with the water level. – Damocles at the Aries Point quincunx the Sun in Virgo and square Uranus in Gemini.

William Knox Schroeder (July 20, 1950 – May 4, 1970) was a student at Kent State University, Ohio, when he was killed by Ohio National Guardsmen in the Kent State shootings. – Sun conjunct Damocles in Cancer.

Scooter Libby (born Aug. 22, 1950) is the former adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney. In October 2005, Libby resigned after he was indicted by a federal grand jury concerning the investigation of the leak of the covert identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame Wilson. He was convicted. – Sun conjunct Damocles in Leo.

Ellen DeGeneres (born Jan. 26, 1958) is an American comedian and television host. In summer 2020, DeGeneres has faced allegations of abuse, racism and sexual harassment against her staff. – Sun and Venus conjunct Damocles in Aquarius, opposite Uranus in Leo.

Ayrton Senna (March 21, 1960 – May 1, 1994), a Brazilian racing driver, who is widely regarded as one of the greatest Formula One drivers of all time. He died in an accident at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix. – Sun at the Aries Point semisquare Damocles at the ascendant in Aquarius.

Julian Assange (born July 3, 1971), the founder of WikiLeaks – Mars conjunct Damocles in Aquarius.

Anders Behring Breivik (born Feb. 13, 1979) is a Norwegian terrorist. – Sun conjunct Damocles in Aquarius.

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (born Sept. 15, 1984) In 2018 he married American actress Meghan Markle. In January 2020, the couple announced their intention to step back as members of the royal family. — Damocles in Pisces square the lunar nodes (Gemini/Sagittarius).

Full Moon in Aquarius — August 03, 2020, 15:59 UT

Monday, August 3rd, 2020

The Full Moon at 11+ degrees of Aquarius is squaring Uranus at 10+ degrees of Taurus and three distant minor planets as well, tightly in conjunction with Uranus. Uranus is the ruler of Aquarius and famous for its unpredictability. The three minor planets mentioned above are 15760 Albion, 385695 Clete and 385571 Otrera.

15760 Albion was discovered in 1992, and many besides me know it better by its provisional designation 1992 QB1, since it took 25 years before it got named. In January 2018 out of the blue, the name was announced. This cubewano was named from the creation mythology of English poet and painter William Blake (1757–1827) after Albion, the primordial man who was originally fourfold but was self-divided into the four Zoas, each representing important aspects of human character. The name Albion derives from the ancient and mythological name of Britain.

Albion is not just any minor planet, but the door opener. It was the first body found beyond Neptune after the discovery of Pluto in 1930. The discovery proved the existence of the Kuiper belt and led to the finding of all the interesting populations of the icy bodies that we know today, and to a new understanding of our solar system.

Astrologically Albion is representing the edge, the bridge leading to the unknown, or the archetype of the thresholder. It was discovered at the Aries Point, in the first degree of the first sign of the zodiac, just starting a new phase. The Aries Point connects the individual with the larger world.

What William Blake once said has been manifesting both astronomically and astrologically: “In the universe, there are things that are known, and things that are unknown, and in between, there are doors.”

385571 Otrera and 385695 Clete are Neptune trojans. They have approximately the same orbital period as Neptune (164.8 years) and follow roughly the same orbital path. Otrera was discovered in 2004 and Clete in 2005. The Neptune trojans are to be named after Amazons, which were female warriors that fought in the Trojan War on the side of the Trojans against the Greeks. Classicist Peter Walcot has written, “Wherever the Amazons are located by the Greeks, whether it is somewhere along the Black Sea in the distant north-east, or in Libya in the furthest south, it is always beyond the confines of the civilized world. The Amazons exist outside the range of normal human experience.”

In Greek mythology, Otrera was the first queen of the Amazons. She was originally a housewife, who was treated horribly by her husband. She decided to learn how to defend herself with a sword and a bow and arrow. She also taught the other housewives in her town to fight. Eventually they took over the entire town and marched also into neighboring towns, liberating the women. The name Otrera possibly means “nimble”.

Clete was the attendant to the Amazons queen Penthesilea (the daughter of Otrera), who led the Amazons in the Trojan War. Penthesilea was killed by Achilles. Clete, with a company of Amazons, went looking for her when she did not return from the war. Their ship was swept of course and after a shipwreck they ended up to Calabria, Italy, where Clete founded a city, nowadays known as the village of Cleto. She settled there and became the queen of the Amazons. Her name means “called for” or “invoked”.

Opening the door and entering a new territory requires a lot of determined work, but the outcome may still be unpredictable.