How We Talk to Each Other, Picking Your Moment and the Full Moon/Chiron Messages
Mercury and the Sun have just entered Libra. Last week I wrote that these ingresses were on Sunday and Monday – that should have read Saturday and Sunday!
Here’s the correct sequence that happened over the weekend –
Saturday 22 September
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Mercury ingress Libra 23.03
Sunday 23 September
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Sun ingress Libra 02.55
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Mercury 2 Libra square Saturn 2 Capricorn 17.47
Ingresses are symbolically important because they open new cycles, and the nature of the beginning of those new cycles is indicated by their first aspects – ie which other planets do they align with first, for good or ill.
As I said last week, the beginning of this new journey is not an easy one, as both square up to Saturn, Mercury yesterday (Sunday) and the Sun in the very early hours of Wednesday morning. This square will therefore be making itself felt now and will be at its most potent tomorrow (Tuesday) –
Wednesday 26 September
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Sun 3 Libra square Saturn 00.52
Saturn is strong in his own sign of Capricorn but is only just starting to pick up speed again, after being retrograde since the middle of April and turning back to direct motion a couple of weeks ago. Saturn is therefore still very slow moving, but is at least inching forwards in the right direction.
These squares are extremely testing, however, especially in terms of relating and negotiating issues. Libra is the sign of the Scales, which we all associate with indecision and balancing acts, but more importantly the Scales symbolize partnership.
There is nothing that one side does without automatically affecting the other. So even more than usual we have to look at how our own wishes or decisions might be in conflict with someone else important to us.
Initially this can be experienced simply as not getting what we want, not getting our own way, being blocked or distanced, or feeling let down, disappointed or rejected, or being confronted with how difficult it is to talk to someone. We might feel as if we’re talking two different languages, or a silence may be baffling.
Whatever the particular scenario this can show in connection to any significant partnership or one to one dealings, in business, family or love. However there are certainly deeper issues going on and Saturn symbolism may well indicate what those are – matters linked to personal responsibility, duty or boundaries, or practical logistics of any kind.
It’s All About Timing
The Saturn frustrations are part of but not the end of the story. Once Mercury and the Sun have stumbled over these roadblocks they both move on quickly to make trines (harmonious) with Mars.
The Mercury trine was exact in the early hours of this morning and the Sun trine will be exact just as we click into Friday –
Monday 24 September
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Mercury 3 Libra trine Mars 3 Aquarius 02.31
Friday 28 September
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Sun 5 Libra trine Mars 5 Aquarius 00.36
So if you’ve got something important to tackle then Thursday is a good day to choose, so bide your time for a little while.
Mars turned direct at the end of last month and is pretty much back up to full speed (returning next Monday to 9 Aquarius, the degree at which he turned retrograde) so this also indicates a matter coming full circle and the possibility of final results or answers.
This may not be without some friction. Even by good aspect Mars is still Mars – god of war – and his nature is can-do at best, aggressive at worst. So it can pay to be a little pushy as long as you don’t get fixated or step on too many toes! And you may also need to bear in mind that someone else’s anger – or your own – has sensitized a matter that is still simmering.
Think about using the nature of Mars in Aquarius to full advantage. This is an air sign, associated with intelligence, originality and being ahead of the pack. So this sign cools Mars down and urges us not to act on impulse but to be more logical and objective. Here’s my take on this combination from Be Your Own Astrologer –
Mars in Aquarius
Mars in the fixed air sign of Aquarius signals a nature that is generally smart, competent and objective. With their systematic approach they are the ultimate list tickers and can shift enormous amounts of work through being highly organized and logical.
Often they make great team players, or they are good at managing teams as they are masters of the overview rather than being intent on individual glory. However, although they can see what is best for most, the paradox is that they can be inflexible.
Utter personal conviction and high principles can result in a fixed code of ethics from which no one is allowed to deviate. This can create problems when it comes to the give and take of relationships. In love they can be slow to intimacy and tend to place friendship and shared intellectual interests over passion.
Overall, when it comes to fighting a cause this Mars is nevertheless in a league of his own. These individuals are also attracted to partners who are similarly strong minded and on their own mission. Michelle Obama and Carla Bruni-Sarkozy are both Sun in Capricorn – Saturn’s other sign – with Mars in Aquarius.
Steve Irwin also had this Mars very powerfully placed in his chart, along with three other planets in Aquarius. Steve was a textbook Pisces in so many ways, but in this cluster of planets in Aquarius, co-ruled by innovative Uranus, we find his “mad professor” streak, the whacky, brilliant guy with an ecological cause.
In a nutshell: principled, progressive, original
In the middle of all this hoo-ha we have the Full Moon –
Tuesday 25 September
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Full Moon 2 Aries 03.54
This Full Moon falls conjunct Chiron (the Wounded Healer) who is retrograde at the moment, and slides back from 0 Aries to 29 Pisces literally just a few hours earlier, the ingress back into Pisces being exact at 01.13 BST. This is called a “dissociate” conjunction as the two bodies are only 2 degrees apart at the time of the Full Moon but they are then in different signs.
This is delicate timing. Full Moons illuminate, they bring things to light, and we now have to throw into the mix that 29 Pisces is the degree of a Fixed Star called Scheat who doesn’t have the happiest of reputations, being associated with suffering and disasters.
Scheat is also defined traditionally as being of the nature of Mars/Mercury, so it seems that this Full Moon will invoke the Mercury trine Mars at the beginning of the week.
The fact that this is a dissociate conjunction can also symbolize a togetherness but with a barrier. For example, you might recognize and feel another person’s plight, but at the same time you’ll know not to get sucked into the whirlpool.
When we consider the Moon as a receiver and transmitter of the Sun’s light – she “changes” shape in the sky depending on how much light she’s reflecting back to us – then the Full Moon is also a time of ultimate polarity.
The Moon in Aries (the self) receiving all of the light from the Sun in Libra (the other) puts relationship concerns in the limelight and this time with the codicil of some necessary separateness or more awareness of how much we’re prepared to give up for someone else, or the price we’re prepared to pay to rescue a relationship or a situation.
What do we have to renounce in order to heal?
We can understand these themes better when we consider that in mythology Chiron is recognized as the most superior Centaur, standing apart from his unruly brethren. Civilized, knowledgeable and kind this skilled physician, teacher, astrologer and oracle is a fount of ancient wisdom.
Ultimately, he is the archetype of the Wounded Healer as, unable to use his healing arts upon himself, Chiron gave up his god status in order to die and thereby end the eternal agony of a poisoned arrow wound. The full power of his message is captured in his “rebirth”, being returned to source and immortalized in the constellation of Centaurus.
The message, therefore, of this Full Moon does seem linked to sacrifice but this doesn’t have to be negative. On the contrary, this mythology communicates to us that by identifying what we have to give up, we find a way to heal.
This can relate to old emotional or psychological wounds, or it can speak of the life choices we’re now making. Who or what is your poisoned arrow? And what do you have to choose to do in order to stop it hurting?
Venus Slowing Down
Next Friday Venus will turn retrograde, but for now just note that until then she’s “stuck” in the area of 8 to 10 degrees of Scorpio. This is a significant event as it’s relatively infrequent, ie Mercury turns retrograde three times a year but Venus turns retrograde only once every 18-20 months, and stays retrograde for a period of around 42 days, backtracking about 15 or 16 degrees.
Scorpio is also one of Venus’ signs of detriment which can make things even more complicated, and this is the subject of my talk next month on the evening of Wed 17 October. There’ll be lots of discussion and example horoscopes so do come along if you’d like to find out more, but I’ll also be talking more about Venus in next week’s blog.
Until then
With love from Greece
Joanna