Sun entering Aquarius almost across from Jupiter in Leo

The executive minister is the student to the king as the parent is the student of the child.  Managers study the advertised policies of business owners as teachers study the creations of their students.  The Sun in Jupiter’s 6^th house is studying the philosopher’s pronouncements in order to make the most effective response.  The Sun will cross into Aquarius tonight at 4:44am (9:44Universal Time) the sign opposite Leo.  Jupiter is in Leo until August of this year.  But instead of counting Jupiter’s chickens the Sun is still warming the philosopher’s eggs.  The pair of the great benific and the flaming thrower of almost everlasting fire will not reach their point of complete balance with regard to Earth till Feb 6, when the Source will be seen at 17.5 degrees Aquarius.  Meanwhile the philosopher appears to be backpedalling as little Earth comes through in the passing lane like a smart car tooting around the floating track in the night.

The 6^th house is analogous to Virgo the 6^th sign of apprenticeship.  When we see the Sun in Virgo we have come a long way from the explosive springing to life in Aries.  On July 24^th the Sun had its yearly meetup with Jupiter and since it was in the beginning of the sign Leo (northern hemmies) it was a real philosophical barn dance, a good time was had by all.  Now, the philosopher is hanging in the Sun’s sign while the Sun is passing through the territory of sober Saturn. 

Keith Richards has Jupiter in Leo and is a good example of an entertaining philosopher.  He was born in late 1943.  Jupiter was also in Leo late 1931 early 1932, some of 1955 56, some of 67, 68 you get the picture- about every 12 years.  When Mr. Richards was born the Sun was in the end of Sagittarius and Jupiter was near the end of Leo.  If you count the signs from Leo to Sagittarius you come up with his Sun being in Jupiter’s 5^th house of self expression and children.  Let’s count the signs from Leo to Sagittarius.  Leo 1, Virgo 2, Libra 3, Scorpio 4, Sagittarius 5.  So the Sun had gotten pretty far in its cycle with Jupiter, but not as far as the Sun in Capricorn and Aquarius.  Until it gets to 17 Aquarius the Sun is in Jupiter’s 6^th house, the one after self expression but before contracts.  The Sun is no longer a protected child to the philosopher, but still has a measure of safety.  It has some responsibility, but not enough to sell the house.  It watches the house and has responsibility for maintaining the upkeep of the house and is learning all about how to run a house.  But in the 6^th house from the philosopher the Sun is only an assistant.  When the Sun reaches Taurus it will be in a closing square with Jupiter and will then be responsible for the philosopher.  It will be high in the sky when the performing philosopher is rising.  It will be the worker reminding the philosopher that high falutin words are nothing without a good grasp of how to lay bricks. 

But that’s a few months in the northern hemisphere future.  Right now the Sun can’t expect too much from its relationship with Jupiter.  It has to watch the talker closely, and put the pieces of the puzzle together.  A child cannot say they are getting plenty of sleep at home and lots of attention from older family members, or that they are disturbed at home by a lot of fighting, or not sure when bed time is because of loud music and partying.  The teacher has to listen closely, look at what the child draws, how the child interacts with others and carries herself to determine what the child is dealing with.  That’s the Sun in late Capricorn early Aquarius to Jupiter in Leo.  We think of a planet in Capricorn as being the boss and having the last say, as having ultimate responsibility.  But when we consider the early Aquarian Sun in its relationship to a planet in late Leo we see that that responsibility is not so much about setting limits and laying down the law as it is about observation and determining specific needs.

A manager has to figure out how to run the show by listening closely to what the business owner says she wants.  The business owner often does not know what is actually possible.  The manager has to be a student of everything the business owner says, and then figure out how to turn the pronouncements to workable solutions that satisfy everyone sharing in the tasks.  While the manager may be in a position of authority to the workers she must also observe and pay close attention to their actions in order to insure that no worker is treated unfairly.  Only observant managers can know who is not contributing their fair share. 

One of the things that makes Aquarius and Capricorn good managers is the skill of observing self expression and using that information to respond effectively to others.  That’s my meditation for the Sun entering Aquarius almost across the zodiac from Jupiter at 19degrees Leo.

Plato's Timeaus, Charts for Down Under and Thanks to Gandy Dancers

Somehow I went from the assassination of Arch Duke Ferdinand and Sophie Duchess of Hohenburg to the bombing of Valparaiso Chile by the Spanish Navy in 1866.  Wikipedia rocks.  When I did the chart for the bombing of Valparaiso I realized I had finally stumbled into an opportunity to figure out the puzzle of charts for the southern hemisphere.  Like just about every other puzzle in astrology, I find myself in disagreement with the vast majority of astrologers.  I know there are folks somewhere out there who see this as a matter of what is actually happening in the sky.  For instance, I can’t find it right now but I saw an Australian blog a few years ago showing people in bikinis knee deep in the surf waving merrily in their red Christmas hats with white tassles.  They discussed how the zodiac of the northern hemisphere is a mirror of the zodiac experienced by people living on the southern part of the globe, or flipped.  Another supporting blog that I can't find declared that inhabitants of the southern hemisphere are disrespected by the charts in popular use among astrologers.  I agree with these people.

 

Astrodienst, the free and wonderful astrology service that I use every day, does not generate a chart that reflects the flipped, or mirror image, of the ecliptic that people living in the southern hemisphere see.  I have not made an extensive search, but it appears that the vast majority of the astrology community thinks these charts are accurate and see no need to show the Sun coming up on the right side of the chart as it does on the right side of the horizon for those facing north to observe the ecliptic. They seem to be unaware that the ecliptic is above the equator in the southern hemisphere at the same time it is below the equator in the northern, or if they are aware they think it has nothing to do with the zodiac.

I have waited several years to discuss this aspect of astrology.  After posting the videos about what the zodiac means to me I am ready to show how the zodiac appears from ‘down under’ and how to read my charts for the southern hemisphere.  I hope, as I make more searches, to find other people who have reached similar conclusions.  Meanwhile, I will be using hand drawn charts from the Astrodienst data, but presented as seen by people who orient themselves from the Southern Cross instead of Polaris, who see the Sun coming up on their right as they face north instead of south to follow its rise to the midheaven each day.

I have no problem with doing things my own way, but I know it makes people who are unfamiliar with astrology wonder who is right, MP the crackpot, or the hundreds of astrologers who say otherwise.  I can only say this is the account of the zodiac that consistently adds up for me.  It has been presented at least since the time of the earliest Rig Vedas as a wheel with equal sections.  The constellations are easy to locate without abstract reasoning, but they don’t satisfy me as an explanation for the equal sections of the zodiac.  As far as I can tell, Plato’s account of celestial mechanics (I have not studied Aristotle) is concerned with describing heaven, while every other writer that concerned themselves with astrology after Plato was satisfying a public demand for predictions or recipes for predictions.  While much of Timeaus does not make sense to me, I still go back to it because it concerns itself with the relationship between the equator and ecliptic more than any other ancient account except maybe the Rig Vedas.  I say ‘maybe’ because though I have picked out relevant quotes, I have not studied the Rig Vedas.

So I have gone back and found the section of Timeaus that keeps coming to mind as I consider how to present a cartographic format for the southern hemisphere that I consider to be more respectful and reflective of heaven as seen from Valparaiso, Chile or Perth, Australia.

The nature of the light and the heavy will be best understood when examined in connexion with our notions of above and below; for it is quite a mistake to suppose that the universe is parted into two regions, separate from and opposite to each other, the one a lower to which all things tend which have any bulk, and an upper to which things only ascend against their will. For as the universe is in the form of a sphere, all the extremities, being equidistant from the centre, are equally extremities, and the centre, which is equidistant from them, is equally to be regarded as the opposite of them all. Such being the nature of the world, when a person says that any of these points is above or below, may he not be justly charged with using an improper expression? For the centre of the world cannot be rightly called either above or below, but is the centre and nothing else; and the circumference is not the centre, and has in no one part of itself a different relation to the centre from what it has in any of the opposite parts. Indeed, when it is in every direction similar, how can one rightly give to it names which imply opposition? For if there were any solid body in equipoise at the centre of the universe, there would be nothing to draw it to this extreme rather than to that, for they are all perfectly similar; and if a person were to go round the world in a circle, he would often, when standing at the antipodes of his former position, speak of the same point as above and below; for, as I was saying just now, to speak of the whole which is in the form of a globe as having one part above and another below is not like a sensible man.

                                         Plato’sTimeaus:  Senses

                                        Translation B. Jowett

Once again thanks to everyone who takes the trouble to read the Our Sky blog.  Lately I think of people willing to put up with these difficult posts as Gandy Dancers.  The only dancing here is a collective push to get an ancient language back on track.

Moon in Leo reflects Mercury Meeting Venus in Aquarius

Maybe time is not precious, just understanding it and seeing how it creates us.  Seeing how we are woven out of a tapestry of movement and substance.  Here the balance between knowing and celebrating the knowledge.  Standing on the mountain and seeing the river run through the valley while at the same time roasting tender fish born and grown to maturity in that ceaselessly moving fountain of life.  Moon on the far side of Earth reflects Mercury approaching Venus.  Following this pair satisfies a hunger to know what is happening from the point of view above the solar system, to imagine our ancient selves as old as the planets.  Using the zodiac to put ourselves mentally in heaven is claiming our inheritance from the ancients.

Kind Communications in Aquarius

We now have 3 planets in Aquarius; Mars at 25°, followed by Venus at 3° and Mercury at 1°.   These next several days, while Mercury draws up right behind Venus in Aquarius, are a golden opportunity for the mind to focus and enjoy that process of gaining control.  I always enjoy Mercury when it is apparently slowing down in its oncoming path toward Earth, preceding its period of retrograde motion.  These are the periods when I get the most studying done with the least amount of distractions.  The periods when Mercury is moving quickly forward are taken up with handling direct communications that must be addressed at the moment.  

Every day, as Mercury slows down in Aquarius, we see it head on from our spots on Earth as we are descending in our daily revolution.  For the next weeks Mercury will be the first planet we ‘see’ on the Mid Heaven after Pluto at 13°Capricorn (and the Sun).  Pluto in the middle of Capricorn means it will cross the meridian after we reach the top of our daily revolution like Goats on a mountain top; about an hour later Mercury and Venus, in the beginning of Aquarius, cross the MC.  Locating them in Aquarius tells us that any point on Earth is closest to them, or facing them along the ecliptic, as that point is starting to descend like Aquarian water poured from a bucket.

It doesn’t matter where on Earth you are.  Your spot will be facing Mercury and Venus an hour after your local midday.  While the Sun is in Capricorn, any point on the northern hemisphere faces it when that point is highest.  So the communicator and the friend cross the midheaven as we head back down into the valley.  The long climb is behind us, the vision is before us.  The ecliptic stretches far into the east.

One of these days we have to talk about the view from the southern hemisphere where folks are now playing in the Sun at the beach…..one of these days. 

For today though we will just stick with the top of the globe.  First up is a chart for Raleigh midday and second is about an hour later when the focused friend and communicator cross the MC as a pair.  The last two charts are for Van who lives near Memphis TN.  

I love the way that line for the MC swings over to the west-- it reflects our wider view of the oncoming ecliptic to the east as we come down the big round mountain.

These charts for Memphis, TN are almost the same.  The main way you can tell the difference is by the figure for Universal Time which is basically Greenwich Mean Time. 

Raleigh has the Sun/Pluto pair about to cross at 17:09 Universal Time and Memphis, TN has them just past the MC at 18:09 Universal Time.  The moon advanced 31 minutes in the zodiac from 20degrees Cancer 51minutes in the Raleigh midday chart to 21degrees Cancer22minutes in the Memphis midday chart.  

Last we have a screenshot from Planets Today at about 1:09 pm showing the dot for Raleigh facing toward Mercury and Venus.  At 12 pm it was facing the Sun and Pluto, not shown in the close up view

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Venus Coming under the Influence of Mars

I need to go clean a big house and collect a big check, but I do want to mention Venus entering Mar’s 12^th house this past Saturday (Dec 19). 

 

I finally finished the video for the Saturn Pluto cycle, so if you are not familiar with conceptualizing complete cycles of planetary pairs that might help.  Silent video of Saturn Pluto cycle.  The event I used for Saturn entering Pluto’s 12^th house (at the end of the 1914/15 cycle) was Germany coming under occupation of Soviets at end of WWII.  It is basically a succumbing to fate which did include a lot of suffering because it was a heavy duty historic cycle.  Venus and Mars meet every 2 or so years.  Since they are inner planets we get some really interesting meet ups, such as Venus turning retro after meeting Mars, and seeming to back up for a rapprochement, before turning tail and running away.  But this year’s cycle is fairly straightforward.

So, just think of the planet of accepting things as they are (Venus) now meeting its fate with the planet of going after what it wants (Mars).  For me it has felt like falling off the spiritual wagon of resisting desire.  Desires that had not ruled me for several months seem to exert a more powerful pull, until I find myself acting on them.  

The encounter of these two primitive planets takes place at the beginning of Aries this year instead of the end of Aries in April 2013.  Right now Venus in Capricorn is the picture of respectability and Mars in Aquarius is eccentric but not without self control.  They will draw nearer through Jan and Feb until conjunction Feb22 at 2 degrees Aries.  As they both get into Pisces things will get emotional but not explosive.  Maybe there will be a chance to elaborate as they come closer to their meeting.

 On another note here is a Planets Today screenshot of Saturn entering Sagittarius.  Saturn is now disposited by Jupiter after more than 2 years under contract with Mars (Mars rules Scorpio).  While Jupiter is still in Leo we will have two planets looking toward the Sun for their helpful cues.  The spirit, also referred to as ego, is strong- with Jupiter in the Sun's sign and Saturn in turn ruled by big J. When Jupiter passes to Virgo (not till August 2015) the two gas giants will be looking to Mercury and the theme for the year will be 'all the ways info can be perceived.'  Until then strong winds prevail.

First an intimate view:

Now a wider view to get a bit of Pluto's orbit in the picture: