Presenting Part 2 in the Zodiac Series

In this 2^nd  installment of the Zodiac Series we view the Cancer quadrant.  (See Stone Circles for 1st part of zodiac series.) When 0degrees Cancer is on the MC, Raleigh is at the lowest point in its daily spin around Earth’s axis.  In the sky, the visible length of ecliptic is bisected, and we can see as much coming up in the East as there is going down in the West.  As we climb through Leo and Virgo to the beginning of Libra, we see the visible length of ecliptic shortening in the East and stretching out further to the West.
  

Beginning with the culmination* of Cancer we enter a protracted process of losing our ability to objectively perceive what is coming next.  By the time 0degrees Virgo is on the MC we are losing more than a degree of visibility in the East for every 5degrees the Earth turns.  The diminished ability to see what is coming is balanced by the stretching out of the ecliptic in the West.

Sometimes I think of a canoe going down a river with thick foliage along the banks. On a long, straight stretch the paddler can see what is coming, but when she reaches a curve the view of the waters up ahead is obstructed by the foliage along the banks.  She can look back on the straight stretch and see far, but the curve up ahead makes it impossible to see upcoming rapids or other dangers.
   

How far will that line representing the midheaven move to the left, showing a shrinking view of the future, before it begins to open out again?  In the 3^rd installment, showing charts for the Libra quadrant culminating from Raleigh, we’ll see just how short the oncoming vista gets. 

* For observers north of Earth’s equator, a point in the heavens culminates when it is exactly due south.  For example when the Sun culminates at midday, it is seen due south.

Spring Equinox Quick Map

We must have a scout map before the Earth gets too far from the cardinal point of the spring equinox!  At 1:20pm clock time today it is actually 12:20pm and we in Raleigh are almost exactly half way down in our daily descent from Capricorn via Aries to Cancer.  During spring equinox, when our ‘side’ is facing the sun, we see Sol on the midheaven when we are sticking out like the bucket on a Ferris Wheel half way to the bottom.  Weeeeee!!!  Aries!!!

And today the Moon is in Capricorn, lined up with Pluto...  it is just disappeared in the west in this chart for 1:20pm. Raleigh won’t see Luna in the sky again till after we have rotated to the bottom (Cancer) tonight at sunset and then come back up on the side facing Mars and Saturn (Libra).  We’ll have to rotate all the way above the middle (Libra) and through half of the sign Scorpio before we round the corner of our planet blocking light from the Moon.  If you are up at 4:30am you can see Mars and Saturn due south and the Moon in the East.  It would take visual super powers to see Pluto wayyyy off in the distance, in the same direction as the Capricorn Moon.

Stone Circles

This is the first of four installments in a series of charts designed to facilitate meditation on how the zodiac was originally developed.

This first installment of 18 half size charts illustrates the culmination of the first 3 signs of the zodiac- Aries, Taurus and Gemini.  In the first chart the line for the midheaven is skewed to the right and labeled 0degrees Aries07minutes.  Notice that the line for the midheaven (MC) moves closer to the middle as we progress through the culmination of the rest of the sign Aries and the following sign Taurus.  By the time Gemini is culminating (reaching the midheaven) most of the change has already taken place.  There is very little difference in the midheaven from one degree of Gemini to the next.  Gemini is the sign of the twins.  Gemini's particular mechanical nature will be even more evident when we get to Sagittarius and you can see the opposing contrast.

Unrealistic Expectations - Mercury Catches the Big Neptune Wave

Many friends are asking me what is wrong and looking for some understanding of why they feel so lost in a tunnel of darkness.  You will not understand what Saturn in Scorpio is until you are out of the tunnel and can see how much integrity you have gained by having to stand tall in the face of loss, until you can look back at the dark place behind you, and see the sign decorated with snakes, lizards and creepy arachnids that says “Scorpio.”  You will not believe me, I know, because I did not believe it when I first came to astrology.  You will not understand the need to push your own agenda, in the face of everyone doing the same damn thing, until Uranus passes into Taurus, the energy dissipates, and you can look back at the red flag, satisfied that you gave it your best, and see the past from the new present and say, “ohhhh that’s what they mean by Uranus in the sign of the head butting Ram.”  Nature is having its way with us.

Another post without a chart.  Mercury is almost caught up with Neptune in the beginning of Pisces.  Unrealistic expectations are being communicated.  Mercury is now in Pisces for good, which is like saying a yo yo is up for good, but really, this is Mercury’s complete annual passage through the sign of vision as compared to the little taste Feb 1-12.  Mercury the communicator prefers real data to hopeful/fearful anecdotes and wishful thinking.  But ya gotta do what ya gotta do.   This is the spring of the mind, and mine has certainly sprung.  I sent an email to Senator Warren today asking for her birthtime, from a document such as a birth certificate; so I have done my Mercury in Pisces duty and communicated an unrealistic request. 

Neptune is at nearly 6degrees Pisces, so these are very powerful years for the planet of persuasion, and now logistical minds are getting swept up in the current right and left.  Mercury today is 3degrees Pisces about to catch the big wave.  Whose perception of reality will roll with it, whose will get tubed in the crest, and whose will wipe out? 

I am working on a series of charts for March 30 when we will have 3 planets in Aries- Sun (1) and Moon (2), lined up with Uranus (3).  This is nothing like last year’s Sun lined up with Mars April 17, or the five planet pile up of April 3, 2011 when Uranus was just beginning its protracted occupation of Aries, and got a yearlong visit from Jupiter, a 5 week fist pump from Mars, along with the regular scheduled passage of the Spring Sun accompanied by a courageous new moon.  Check out the headlines for those dates to recall how planets in the Aries twelfth of heaven are experienced by folks on the ground looking up.

Back in 2011 Saturn was in Libra, so things were a lot more transparent and a lot more innocent.  Saturn entered Scorpio Nov 2012, coming under passive rule by the planet of war, so the aggression has gotten progressively more canny.  Sex, death and investment are all filed under the same sign in astrology; Scorpio.  If we didn’t die we wouldn’t need to reproduce.  We could just think of investment as putting vegetables up from the garden.  Since we’re talking about Saturn in Scorpio (instead of the Sun) we need to imagine these vittles stockpiled for a lean period of at least 10 years.  They can’t just be thrown in a baggie and tossed in the freezer; even Ball Jars are a bit dicey if those vegetables are really important. 

Saturn in Scorpio can be translated as Integrity spending 2 ½ years wandering around in the labyrinth wondering if it will ever again see the light of day. (Then when it does see the light of day in Sagittarius it must cope with the uncertainty of strange new territory.)  With Uranus in Aries the quiet of Saturn in deep dark places is laced with the muffled explosions of new life unfolding above.    

Saturn was in Scorpio from Aug 1983-Nov 1985, Nov 1953- Sept 1956; Daddy in the cave where he hides his secret weapons.  And then of course there were the years when Neptune was in Scorpio 1957-1969; Uranus Sept 1975-Jan 1981, and Pluto 1984-1994.  Astrologically, the years with outer planets in Scorpio are darker and more mysterious than the years of WW1 and WW2. 

One last thing, which I keep repeating because it is so important, Pluto in Capricorn is ruled by Saturn.  That is like the exile contracting with an official of significant rank.  But Saturn is in Scorpio, so the official with rank is not in power, but must answer to the warrior or hero.  This means Pluto is indirectly under the influence of the warrior/hero.  It adds up to 3 outer planets (Saturn, Uranus and Pluto) ultimately under the influence of Mars.  We are stuck in this highly militarized situation until Saturn enters Sagittarius Dec 24, 2014 for a 5 month taste of the ranking officer under the influence of Jupiter.  Jupiter is fun but not dependable.  Life is just so...... limited by circumstances.

Many friends are asking me what is wrong and looking for some understanding of why they feel so lost in a tunnel of darkness.  You will not understand what Saturn in Scorpio is until you are out of the tunnel and can see how much integrity you have gained by having to stand tall in the face of loss, until you look back at the dark place behind you, and see the sign decorated with snakes, lizards and creepy arachnids that says “Scorpio.”  You will not believe me, I know, because I did not believe it when I first came to astrology.  You will not understand the need to push your own agenda, in the face of everyone doing the same damn thing, until Uranus passes into Taurus, the energy dissipates, and you can look back at the red flag, satisfied that you gave it your best, and see the past from the new present and say, “ohhhh that’s what they mean by Uranus in the sign of the head butting Ram.”  Nature is having its way with us.

Jupiter Exalted in Cancer

No charts today- we are just going to use our imagination and the hints given by the zodiac.

Jupiter travels a twelve year cycle whose first completion is associated with adolescence.  Cancer is whatever we see due south when we are at the bottom of our daily revolution. 

We are currently lined up with the sun so that it is just visible as we begin our daily descent, referred to by ancient astrologers as the time when Capricorn the Goat is on the midheaven.  While the Archer is on the midheaven we are in the last section of our arc toward the daily peak.  When contemplating the zodiac, it doesn’t matter whether we can see stars beyond our solar system or which constellations happen to be visible during the age of our existence--what matters is that we see the planets lowest in the sky because we are as high on the Earth as we can get.  Capricorn-as high on the Earth as one can get.

In other words, at this time of year while the Sun is 2/3 through Pisces, day begins, for anyone around 35degrees north of the equator, at the moment they get to the top of the spherical mountain.  Night, when the Sun’s radiation is completely blocked by earth’s great mass, begins as we are almost to the bottom, reaching down for the Crab.

During this age, called by many the Age of Aquarius, we face away from the center of our galaxy every time we reach the bottom of our daily revolution.  During this Age of Aquarius, we see planets just East of Orion when we are down with the Crab.  In fact, right now, Jupiter in Cancer is lined up with our neighbor star Sirius, which is bright and visible in the same direction of the sky as Jupiter, but much lower.  But that won’t be till tonight, when our part of Earth is turning its back to the Piscean Sun.

Jupiter exalted in Cancer is an astrological formula handed down through many centuries along with the zodiac.  We have been given these riddles that were probably at one time methods for remembering where we actually are on the Earth when the light comes from various angles.  Jupiter’s 12 year cycle is not as mature as Saturn’s of about 28 years, but it marks a point in the human life cycle when one can do for oneself what was once done for them by others, including thinking, reasoning and most fun of all, philosophizing.  When we receive Jupiter’s signal from the lowly position of the Crab, every day, for a year, it is like –well I don’t know what the ancients thought and it would probably be wise to read what other astrologers have to say about this, but it makes me think of a twelve year old being applauded for philosophizing.  Is this philosopher coming up with original concepts?  If so how well have they been tested?  What will happen if every one takes these new ideas and adopts them as a religion or creed?  Cancer is associated with religion and nationalism, which is quite different from philosophy and higher learning.  It seems to me that religion and nationalism are ideas that are handed down from on high and accepted by those at the bottom, because they are at the bottom.  And Jupiter in Cancer represents the excitement of new untested ideas, inspiring us while we are crawling with the Crab.

Starting the Day at the Top of the World

At 8:20 this morn Raleigh is about 54 minutes into the downward half of its daily rotation on Earth’s axis.  Xining, China- on the opposite side of the northern hemisphere is about 54 minutes into its upward rotation.  In Xining, folks can look due south and see Jupiter (Jupiter is at bottom of chart in 10degrees Cancer) peaking in its nightly arc across the sky.

This chart, for Raleigh at 8:20 am, almost an hour after we reached 0degrees Capricorn on the midheaven, shows 13degrees Capricorn 25minutes on the MC.  Medium Coeli is Latin for middle of the sky.  In order to show that Uranus and any thing else in 22degrees Aries is coming up north of east, instead of exactly east, where a planet in 0degrees Aries rises, we move the line for the midheaven to the west a bit.  This also indicates that Mars in 27degrees Libra is setting a little bit south of west instead of exactly west.

So the line sticking up from the top of the chart is just a marker to help us see exactly how much the ecliptic is skewed to east or west depending on where we are in our daily rotation.  Since Raleigh is descending, we can see a bit more of the ecliptic rising in the east than what is setting in the west.  When we finish the first third in our daily fall to the bottom, 0degrees Pisces will be on the MC and that stick will be situated so far to the west that there will be an arc of 110 degrees between the Ascendent and the MC.  That will happen at about 11:30 this morn.  When the first degree of Capricorn or Cancer is on the MC the stick stands straight up making a 90degree angle with the Ascendent. 

East is in the left side of the chart.  You can see the symbol for Uranus at 10degrees Aries 55 minutes.  The 22nd degree of Aries was coming up over the horizon in Raleigh at 8:20am.  It is now 9:36 as I prepare to leave for work and the moon at 10 degrees Taurus is already above the horizon.  The sign Aries rises quickly.

Here is a link to the chartsfor the cycle of one day’s revolution.