Full Circle

The week begins with a flurry of planetary activity.  Retrograde since election day, Mercury stations direct on Monday, righting communications.   The same day, however, Venus makes an emotionally challenging conjunction to Saturn in Scorpio.  Tuesday also sees a pair of exact aspects, as Mars conjoins potent Pluto in Capricorn under the reddened light of a  penumbral lunar eclipse in Gemini.   Thursday and Friday see Venus in Scorpio aspect both Pluto and Mars, while the weekend is dominated by the Sun in Sagittarius’ manic opposition with Jupiter in Gemini.

Mercury Stations Direct: Back To The Surface

Mercury stations direct on Monday 26th, bringing 3 weeks of retrograde motion to a close.  Clarity has been slowly collecting, but this resumption of forward motion is a call to put those insights in to action.  From here we move forward, guided by what we’ve learned about how to squeeze through the tight tunnels of the season.

Venus Conjunct Saturn: The River and Her Banks

Monday’s Mercury station shares space with Venus’s conjunction with Saturn in Scorpio. This is the morning star’s first conjunction with Saturn since he entered Scorpio.  Here the passions come into direct contact with the challenges we’ll be living with for the next two and a half years.   On the surface, this aspect will be emotionally heavy, pressurizing relationships.  Here we confront the limits that our current circumstances and the commitment we’ve made.  We may be getting it done, slaying the monsters and living through the challenges, but the adrenalized, survival oriented tunnel that Saturn in Scorpio has sent many of us down doesn’t always offer the downtime we need to process and accept what’s happening.  The result is an ongoing accumulation of stress which leads many to compensate with excessive and thereby unhealthy pleasures, as well as a snappish, defensive disposition.  This meeting between Venus and Saturn is about coming to terms with where you are, and are going to be, emotionally, and figuring out how you’re going to deal with it.  The key here is to find a rhythm, a pace you can live with.

Lunar Eclipse: Two Twins, One Stone

A penumbral Lunar Eclipse in Gemini occurs on the night of Tuesday, the 28^th.  With visibility centered in the Pacific Ocean, not far off the East Coast of Asia, It will be fully visible in there, as well as in Australia.  Those in the Western half of the US and Canada will also catch some of the show, as will those living in Mexico.

On a mundane level, this eclipse adds its assent to the slowing trade and rising squabbles in East Asia over who owns what islands in the South China sea, which will see the entirety of the eclipse.

It is important to note that although the South Node, also know as the Dragon’s Tail or Ketu, moved into tropical Taurus at the end of August, this eclipse will be in Gemini.  It is the last of a series of Gemini-Sagittarius eclipses that began in the last days of 2010.  While the Solar Eclipse in Scorpio offered us a look down the tunnel of the future, this Lunar Eclipse asks us to finish up business with a cycle that is already behind us.   It is a call to let go of the baggage we simply can’t take with us on the road ahead, ideas whose time has passed, inaccurate maps.  On a psychological level, it is a last call for us to dissolve the divisions within ourselves that bifurcate us into good and bad, light and dark, acceptable and unacceptable.  You’re a single creature with a dizzying variety of qualities, and chances are, you don’t have the time to wage war against yourself.   Speaking of war…

Mars Conjunct Pluto: Underworld Chess

On the same day as the lunar eclipse in Gemini, Mars conjoins dark Pluto in Capricorn.  This conjunction adds to the darkness of the eclipse an intense, ruthlessly strategic current.  There are ambitions riding on these red and black wavelengths, as well as the power to become the person capable of realizing them.  While the lunar eclipse points toward what we would let go of, Mars’ intense conjunction with Pluto asks us what we want and how, exactly we plan to get it.  This aspect combines x-ray vision with a deep strategic intelligence.  As the Moon is temporarily stripped of her light, so are our illusions about the chess game we’re playing with that trio of ever-present ladies- Necessity, Fortune and Fate.

Sun Opposite Jupiter: Multiple Targets Acquired

As the weekend approaches, we emerge from the dark heart of November into December’s relatively placid terrain.  Although the month ends with a complicated Full Moon, the bulk of December is a stroll in the park, compared to November.

Sunday sees the Sun in Sagittarius oppose Jupiter in Gemini.  This aspect highlights the path we are treading and the many places it could go.  But even with the centaur’s four hooves, we can only walk down so many roads at once.  This is another riff on a theme that began in November and will continue for much of December – to what degree do we divide ourselves in order to pursue multiple goals?  To accomplish two goals is better than to accomplish a single one, but how much do we take on before we are chasing everything and catching nothing?

Coming, as it does, after a rather intense week, the Sun-Jupiter opposition asks whether we can bring everything we’ve signed up for over the finish line, or whether, even with our leaner, meaner, upgraded selves, we’re still going to need to leave something behind.   You might be able to do a lot, but you can’t do everything.