New Moon in Virgo — August 30, 2019, 10:37 UT
The New Moon at 6+ degrees of Virgo fell in the middle of a stellium, which along with the Sun and Moon consists of Venus, Mercury, Mars, asteroid Juno, centaur Aphidas and plutino Orcus. A stellium occurs when four or more bodies conjunct each other, each one within few degrees of the next. In this case the planets are all within ten degrees, so they are all conjunct each other. It is a strong concentration of energy.
The closest ones to the New Moon, on both sides of the luminaries, were Aphidas at 5+ degrees Virgo, and Mars at 7+ degrees Virgo. An old saying comes into my mind: “One can’t sit on two chairs at the same time,” which means that one must make some either-or choices.
Mars represents courage, initiative and action; it is the archetype of a warrior.
The myth behind Aphidas tells another kind of story. According to the official naming citation, “During the battle between the Centaurs and Lapiths, the centaur Aphidas remained in a drunken sleep. The Lapith Phorbas killed Aphidas with a thrown spear while he slept.”
When 121725 Aphidas two years ago was named, my first impression for the keywords was “withdrawal”. I noticed there were a lot of celebrities with a prominent Aphidas, who either had withdrawn from publicity at the peak of their fame or otherwise had a difficult relationship to publicity.
Greta Garbo (September 18, 1905 — April 15, 1990), ”The Divine Garbo” retired from the screen at the age of 35, and from then on shunned publicity and led a very private life. She has explained that she was tired of Hollywood and really wanted to “live another life.” She has also told that already when she was a child she wanted to be alone. Garbo’s 12th house Moon is in conjunction with Aphidas. Her Sun is trine to Aphidas, Venus squares Aphidas and also Pluto is aspecting it with a semisextile.
Scott Walker (January 9, 1943 – March 22, 2019), “The 30 Century Man”, was the worshipped teen-idol of the 60s. Later he became reclusive and was rarely seen in public, even withdrawn from it for several years. He used to wear dark glasses and a baseball cap shadowing his face. His Pisces Moon is opposite Aphidas in Virgo.
Cat Stevens / Yusuf (born July 21, 1948) is a British singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. In 1977 he converted to Islam and abandoned the stardom at the height of his career, devoting himself to educational and philanthropic causes in the Muslim community. Around 2006 he returned to pop music and is now using the stage name Yusuf.
Yusuf’s Cancer Sun is semisquare to Aphidas in Virgo. Pluto is semisextile to Aphidas. On December 23, 1977, when he converted to Islam, the transiting Aphidas in Aries was right at his descendant. His last performance was a charity concert at Wembley Stadium on November 22, 1979, when the transiting Aphidas in early Taurus was squaring his natal Sun in Cancer.
Anu Hälvä (born June 30, 1964) is an award-winning Finnish actress, who shunned publicity in the 90s at the peak of her fame. She appeared in a television series “Blondi tuli taloon”, which gained about million watchers every week. She has explained that she couldn’t handle the publicity and was not able to recognize herself anymore in the tabloids. Anu Hälvä’s Cancer Sun is trine to Aphidas in Scorpio. Her time of birth is not known, so I don’t know the exact position of her Moon, but in the noon chart the Moon in Pisces forms a grand water trine with the Sun and Aphidas.
Jeff Buckley (November 17, 1966 — May 29, 1997) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist, who accidentally drowned during a spontaneous evening swim. His first album Grace, released in 1994, won appreciation from many revered musicians and artists, for instance Bob Dylan, who named Buckley “one of the great songwriters of this decade.” Buckley went on a “phantom solo tour” of cafés in 1996, appearing under a series of aliases. He said that he missed the anonymity of playing in cafes and local bars. Jeff Buckley has a stellium in Scorpio consisting of the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Neptune and Aphidas.
Robbie Williams (born February 13, 1974), the great entertainer, disappeared from view at the end of 2006 and had a couple of year’s sabbatical. He grew a beard and went to Nevada to take part in a UFO convention and meet UFO abductees. In an interview he admitted that he knew that there was a chance it’s all nonsense. “But even if it is all made up,” he said, “it’s better made-up stuff than what the tabloids are writing. It’s more interesting. To me, anyway.” He meant that the stuff wasn’t written about him. Robbie has an exact triple-conjunction of the Sun, Jupiter and Aphidas in Aquarius.
Mr Lordi / Tomi Putaansuu (born 15 February 1974) is a multi-talented Finnish musician and special effect make-up artist, whose band Lordi won the Eurovision song contest in 2006. All publicity photographs of Mr Lordi have his face concealed with his mask and stage makeup. The band wanted to keep their anonymity. Mr Lordi was born only two days later than Robbie Williams, so he has the triple-conjunction of the Sun, Jupiter and Aphidas in Aquarius, too.
Cheek / Jare Tiihonen (born December 22, 1981) is a Finnish award-winning rapper, who was having it all, and then suddenly ended his career in 2018. His success is unparalleled in Finland. He has sold gold records, published a biography, and performed at Helsinki’s Olympic Stadium. His farewell concert in Lahti was sold out in less than one minute. Cheek’s Scorpio Moon is opposite the conjunction of Chiron and Aphidas in Taurus.
Zaira Wasim (born October 23, 2000) is a former Indian actress, who earned critical acclaim and several awards. In June 2019, she announced that she would be leaving the Bollywood industry, as it conflicted with her religious identity and beliefs. Her Scorpio Sun is squaring Aphidas in the last degree of Cancer.
Now it is time to make conscious choices, so that you would not end up sitting between the chairs. Virgo’s ability for analyze and prioritizing should help in decision making.