Current Transits for August 2010 Current Transits for August 2010Here's some of the important astrological news this month ...
Juno enters Leo, 8-2
Jupiter Square Pluto, 8-3
Ceres Direct Station at 20Sa40, 8-8
Vesta enters Libra, 8-9
New Moon at 17Le24, 8-9
Uranus reenters Pisces, 8-13
Jupiter Opposition Saturn, 8-16
Mercury Retrograde Station at 19Vi03, 8-20
Saturn Square Pluto, 8-21
Full Moon at 1Pi25, 8-24
Hindsight...
An online ephemeris for the month is available.
Ready or not, it's month 4 of the big outer planet storm. In case you've spaced out the planetary pattern responsible for all the mayhem lately, there's a powerful and persistent T-square going on since early May. Jupiter and Uranus in early Aries are opposite Saturn in Libra (lately with assistance from Venus and Mars), square Pluto over in Capricorn. Chiron and Neptune in late Neptune are also in the configuration. That means all the slow moving outer planets are involved, the bodies that primarily work at a deeper, unconscious level in our lives. It's rare that the "doors to the unconscious" are wide open like this (several times a decade seems to be typical). People are in a raw emotional state, often prone to negative moods such as fear, mistrust or a barely concealed rage. If you can handle these energies, they are an extremely valuable gift, but most of us seem to having trouble with these vibrations. Pay attention to where your plans go wrong and see what you can do to makes matters smoother next time. Anyway, August is one more blast of this influential pattern and except for some minor "aftershocks" in September and October, the last for awhile. Hang in there!
In terms of typical astrological events, August is marginally quieter than previous months. There are 3 "big aspects", 3 sign changes and 2 stations to talk about. And while we won't go into detail about them, there are an unusual number of parallel and contraparallel aspects this month. Mostly this is due to Jupiter and Uranus opposing Saturn, Mars and Venus across the equinoctial axis, close to the equator. These aspects (which resemble conjunctions and oppositions in nature) tend to add exclamation points after the more typical aspects in the T-square, focusing our attention on the storm patterns just a bit more.
Juno moves from Cancer into Leo on the 2nd. She will be in this sign until Oct 3, when she enters Virgo. Juno is the Queen of Relationships, representing the notion of committed partnerships based on love, trust and equality. Her presence in Leo is a bit of a problem, since Leo tends to be somewhat self absorbed, even egotistical. A "me first" attitude is at odds with a partnership between equals, so make sure to balance out these extremes. Keep in mind that when Juno is involved, even a hint that one partner is being taken advantage of or isn't appreciated is enough to build resentment and mistrust. Deep down, Juno and Leo both simply want to be loved. As long as this love and appreciation is genuine and heartfelt, as well as returned, matters should go smoothly. The higher nature of Leo is pure heart energy, a warm and open merging of the people involved. Stay away from the petty stuff.
Jupiter is square Pluto on the 3rd for the second of 3 such contacts. They first made contact on July 24, while their last connection is on 2011-2-25. The first of these squares hardly more than a week ago is rather unique, since Jupiter was just going retrograde and barely moving. These two planets have hardly separated by more than a few minutes of arc during this time, meaning July and August have been basically one long square. The other complication is the overall context of the outer planet T-square, especially Saturn. (In fact, all "big aspects" this month involve Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto.) Jupiter is about building up connections with the world around you for your benefit. On the other hand, Pluto usually makes things break down and decay, quite a different energy. And squares represent open conflicts, pitting these two planets against each other. I suspect that your usual connections and support are being stressed and challenged. It's a time to cut back and expect less, especially on the material level. But while life on the material plane gets more difficult, this square also highlights the more intangible sources of support we receive from others. We may have less "stuff" to brag about, but our sights are directed to matters that ultimately have more value to us. Focus more on friends, relatives and neighbors, that web of relationships that define who we are and how we fit into the world. Those things are indeed priceless...
Ceres reaches her direct station of 20Sa40 on the 8th. She's been in reverse gear since her retrograde station of 4Cp38 back on Apr 28. Speaking of your web of relationships, Ceres forms the connections we make to all of life around us, including the crucial support systems we all rely on for day-to-day living. Since this retrograde cycle has fallen in Sagittarius and Capricorn, this view of our network has a more global and less personal tone, literally how do we fit in with society and indeed the entire Earth as a whole. It's most curious that the retrograde station last April was barely a week into the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, an event that focused our attention on the effects our lives have on Mother Earth as a whole. Regardless of your political views, everyone became an ecologist to some degree. We need to look more closely at our support systems in the world, realizing that our very lives depend on a healthy relation with nature that looks beyond our selfish and shortsighted interests. An interesting clue to this greater global outlook is that the Galactic Center (currently at 27Sa00) is right in the middle of this retrograde zone; the station in April was conjunct Pluto. We either look at the bigger picture or face a gradual breakdown of the natural systems that actually make our lives possible. The essence of Ceres is love, caring and nurturance, learning the lesson that we're meant to take care of the world, not exploit it. It will be interesting to see if all these instant environmentalists revert to their old ways now that the oil has stopped or whether they wake up and realize how precious the Earth really is. The worst outcome would be if all these lessons are forgotten by the fall elections.
Vesta shifts from Virgo into Libra on the 9th. She'll be in this placement until Oct 7, when she moves into Scorpio. One insight that I've had about Vesta is that she's a flaming introvert. She's not really a loner, in fact, she rather enjoys people, but only to a certain point. After awhile, paying attention to others wears her down and saps her energy. Her tendency then is to withdraw into her own private world. She values her solitude because she finds her strength from within. Her sojourn through Libra, the most social of all signs, therefore puts her in a bit of dilemma. She's more locked into other people than normal and can't just pop out the backdoor when she feels overwhelmed by people. If you do check out from your usual social scene, make sure others realize it's nothing personal. Vesta's frequent retreats from the world are sometimes interpreted by others as rejection, so make sure others realize you just need to tend to your own business for awhile. On the other hand, Libra's aesthetic side may indicate a possible outlet in some kind of artistic project while you're off by yourself. Your absence may be more understandable if you have something tangible to show off later that others can appreciate. Anyway, this is a time to balance your personal needs and the desires of others. Not everyone responds deeply to Vesta, but if you do, realize sometimes you just need to be alone. Don't over do it however -- come up for air now and then...
The new moon chart on the 9th is another Koz Quake (though this one doesn't run off the top of the page as on the 6th), an indication that the coming lunar month is anything but mundane and ho-hum. As with every pattern this month, the backbone of this chart is the outer planet T-square, although Neptune is on the sidelines of the bigger picture and less significant than the other outer planets. There's a pile up of 4 bodies in early Libra, which includes Vesta, Saturn, Venus and Mars. Mars is "past his prime" in terms of connecting with the main T-square and starting to move out of the main group. The Sun and Moon connect up via 45 degree type aspects. Mercury is fairly isolated in this chart.
It's always difficult to say anything specific about a chart like this, where most of the planets operate as one big group. There's so much going on at once that it's hard to tease out individual influences in the chart. Normally, with a new moon in Leo, you'd expect the person's ego to be in the limelight, accenting your own wants and desires, especially the need to be loved and noticed. Leo loves attention. Looking at the bigger picture, if you do get some attention in coming weeks, it may not always be of the pleasant kind. The new moon point is definitely secondary now and combines with the big T-square by aspects that often produce friction or mild conflict. The main focus is not on the individual, but on the unconscious background energies. Too much emphasis on "me, me, me!" is likely to provoke a backlash of sorts. On the negative side, the seeds of the ego's downfall always lie in the unconscious, away from your awareness, typically in some kind of emotional block or limiting belief. With Leo, that block is often excessive pride or hubris, though a lack of self-confidence can be the flip side of this same theme. This is not a time to be spouting off about how great and wonderful you are, since "circumstances" will be mirroring back to you that such confidence is not in fact the case. Look for the moments when life throws your act back in your face, as these are the lessons in how you as an individual fail to fit in with the world as a whole. A better approach is to start with the realization that your relationships with others are the main story and put the ego in the back seat. The higher nature of Leo is learning to meet others with an open heart and a whole lot of warm, unpretentious love. "Me first" never works well when the outer planets are so active. Who knows, with Venus conjunct Mars (in Libra), new found love may even be on the horizon. Miracles can happen when you don't force the world to revolve around you.
Uranus backs up from Aries into Pisces again on the 13th for some cleanup work. He'll remain in Pisces until 2011-3-11, when he reenters Aries for a 7 year stay. Uranus is dancing back and forth across the Pisces-Aries border this year. His entrance into Aries on May 27 was a remarkable shift in energy, with the pace of life stepping up almost immediately. The level of chaos and unexpected difficulties (the last two months have been quite a soap opera for me) also went through the roof. Having got a first taste of this new, high voltage influence, it's time for Uranus to back up into Pisces again. The passage from sign to sign by the slow moving planets often involves this back and forth dance. We first try out the new energy, then back up to do some clean up work in the old sign, then enter the new sign for good with gusto. I sensed right away that this exciting new influence requires that you be operating at your best. If you have blockages or limitations at any level of your being that prevent you from holding this energy and working with it successfully, it turns into chaos. Aries is highly dynamic, while Uranus is electrical and fast paced. Put them together and you're trying to tame lightning. OK, we get the message! Let's slink back into Pisces for awhile and work on resolving some of those blockages. The pace in Pisces is slower and more flowing. It's all right to look at some old emotional issues or tend to some physical problem that restricts you. We got a good taste of what baggage we need to get rid of if we're going to get through Uranus in Aries -- time to start throwing things overboard. It always helps to keep your baggage light, especially when dealing with a wily planet like Uranus. Don't waste time...
Jupiter is opposite Saturn on the 16th, the second of 3 contacts. The first opposition was on May 23, the last will be 2011-3-28. Jupiter and Saturn are what I call the social planets, the bodies that rule over the give and take of being a member of society. Jupiter represents all the goodies and benefits of being part of the crowd, while Saturn is the rules, responsibilities and limitations we take on so life is peaceful and productive. Oppositions are like a tug-of-war game, with the two planets in an uneasy tension with each other. This is a time when the cost-benefits equation is out of balance, when people are rethinking what they are receiving from life vs. all the demands on us that requires. We need to reassess our lives and the goals we're living for. The Jupiter-Saturn cycle began back in May 2000, just after the market peaked in the late Clinton years and the dot.com bubble burst. That should have been a warning to get our economic house in order, but we went into the new century committing the same financial blunders. The most recent crash, the current Great Recession, is really the result of the same dysfunctional economic theory and regulatory practice of years gone by, though the results have been more devastating this time around. The opposition is a signal to try something different this time, even if it's painful. This cycle is also intimately intertwined with the situation in the Middle East, due to the fact that the conjunction in 2000 was on the Israeli Sun. The cycle has charted the ups and downs of the peace process over the last decade. An opposition is more than likely one of the down times, when the positions of the two factions are far apart and not budging. For now, intransigence rules the day and the peace process is as glacial as ever. Maybe there will be more progress in the second half of the 20 year long cycle. Not surprisingly, Saturn is the teacher of patience...
Mercury reaches its retrograde station of 19Vi03 on the 20th, starting 3 weeks of reverse gear. This lasts until its direct station of 5Vi21 on Sep 12. Mercury is the thinking, talking, symbol-using, story-telling part of the psyche that is responsible for weaving and maintaining that story each of us carries around called "How the World Works". Most of the time this story works pretty good for us, helping us navigate effortlessly through the many demands of everyday life. Mercury retrograde periods are not one of those times. It seems when Mercury is backing up, the thinking mind goes down the tubes. Your understandings of the situation you're in wind up being hopelessly confused, communications between people lead to mix ups all over. This cycle takes place completely in Virgo, a mental or analytical sign already ruled by Mercury. You may get the big picture of what's going on, but the devil is in the details. Virgo is a detail person, so the mental foul ups may deal with getting all the individual parts to fit together. Virgo also deals with skills and habits of a physical nature -- don't be surprised if you're more clumsy than usual. Anyway, it's a good idea to not jump to conclusions and perhaps to put off major decisions until Mercury is moving forward again. It's a good practice to turn that analytical power back on itself during these retrograde periods, studying how the mind puts together your story and where the gaps in your narrative lie. It keeps the Mercury mind honest.
Saturn is square Pluto on the 21st, the last of 3 contacts. They previously met on 2009-11-15 and 2010-1-31. First of all, there's no way to sugar coat this aspect -- it's a tough one. The question is one of how to make it as painless as possible. Saturn is all the forms, structures, ideas, rules, roles and regulations we use to fabricate the world we live in, both physical and social. As I once said, he's a kind of web that binds our souls to the material plane. Normally, these structures are pretty static and unquestioned; change comes slowly and painfully. Pluto, however, is a force for change and growth, whether you want to or not. When we get too cozy with our lives, too complacent in our spiritual approach, Pluto comes along to shake things up. He's very good at stripping us down to basics, removing any obstacles that stand in the way of being the person you were intended to be. You can put up a fight against such change or try to bend it to your ego's desires, but I wouldn't advise it. Pluto doesn't accept "no" for an answer. Squares are an aspect of conflict, so I expect these two planets to go at it hard. The status quo is definitely under attack and it's best to let go and move on. Overhauls like this aren't fun and can even be rather frightening. It's hard to simply abandon parts of your life that were previously satisfying. Saturn may dig in his heels to slow down the transformations to a less challenging pace. You can slow Pluto down a little, but you can't delay the inevitable. Recall that with Jupiter, there's a T-square going on, making the social overhaul implications of this square even more prominent. And as an added hint, the 4th member of this cross pattern is the US Venus (3Cn06). Pluto opposite the US Venus has been a significant marker of the Great Recession since 2008, when the banks and markets started to tank. Of course this has social implications as well, since people get antsy when their livelihoods are on the line. It's a tough time for the country, but it won't last forever. Time to quit whining and start building a better future. These planets would never forgive us if we didn't at least try...
The full moon happens right at the peak of another Koz Quake. Once again, the outer planet T-square is the big picture. The full moon is conjunct Chiron and Neptune, which partially makes up for Neptune's weakness. The Libra crew is no longer operating as one group; Venus and Mars are moving on. Mercury, newly retrograde , is still on the sidelines. There are other subtle shifts going on in the T-square (including Uranus moving back into Pisces) that hint its influence is starting to wane.
After talking about the T-square for so many months, it's hard to find something new to say. With the Moon conjunct Chiron and Neptune, a quieter, dreamier mood is displacing the brash, in-your-face tendencies of recent weeks. Uranus' retreat to Pisces also helps quiet things down. The pace and intensity of the last few months has undoubtedly left its marks on us. We're coming up to a time (once we get through this storm) when we need to look back briefly and assess where we ran into stumbling blocks and speed bumps in our path. We have a few months coming up to deal with these limitations in a more leisurely fashion before diving into the new energies for real in 2011. Meanwhile, life is still going by at a brisk pace this week. Clean up old projects and commitments now so you can start the next phase with a clean slate. It's been quite a ride!
I mentioned some time ago that the Deepwater Horizon rig initially exploded on Apr 20, the day Chiron entered Pisces, the sign of oceans as well as petroleum. In mid July, BP finally managed to cap the well and stop the flow of oil into the Gulf, just in time for Chiron to back out of Pisces on July 20. The timing is uncanny, though we had all hoped for a speedier solution than that. They expect to complete a permanent shutdown of the well in early August, if all goes well.