Mandatory Growth Eclipse 5

Continuing from previous post…

Salacia does have one Challenge that’s Incomplete, or Ragged. Part of her Energy is that Heart-Felt Values Clash with Programmed Judgmental Ethical Standards that we use to try to Override our True Self, causing us to have to Choose between Codependent Submission and Open or Passive-Aggressive Rebellion, because we don’t feel like we have Healthy Control over the situation.¹ In “normal times” that would be an ongoing Conflict. But if we want to Live Truth and move toward Ascension, there’s no contest. Our Heart-Felt Values take Precedence over our Programming. Our Body tells us which is which – our Heart-Felt Values are connected directly to our Tear Ducts, while our Programming tightens and stiffens our Jaw.

Values do change, and to some extent Values can be Programmed, but the Tear-Duct test is pretty solid. It’s not our Values per se that Change,² as much as our Interpretations of our Values. We reinterpreted our Values to make them fit into our Progamming, so we could subdue the constant Stress of Internal Conflict. But as we Grow Out of our Programming, we come to understand (often with Irritation) the Conflict-Diminishing Compromises that we’ve made, and we become less willing to Betray our own Heart. This is a major impetus for the Changes to our Associations with Individuals and Institutions that often occur with Growth. Grieve the Losses and Let them Go. Better Relationships and fewer Compromises are waiting for us.

How might we Resolve Salacia’s Stress between her True Self, her Programming, and her Role in the Universe? A Star Completes this triad and Balances her Energy. Bernadette Brady tells us that this Star “represents the human unconscious or the collective unconscious which, like a beast from the deep, can erupt with moments of great collective insight, or bring chaos and mayhem.” ³ When this Energy Arises, we definitely want to Act it Out, but Dramatically, Theatrically, not Emotionally. We want to Let this Energy Flow Through us, we don’t want to Ego-Identify with it, in either a Positive or Negative sense.

• ¹ The Salacia Discovery chart contains two Grand Crosses (including Salacia’s own) and one T-Square – dwarf planet Hylonome (Self-Sovereignty and Codependence) Conjunct asteroid Arachne (Grandmother Spider, or the Contextual Field ) T-Squares the Opposition between Venus (Values) and asteroid Damocles (Anxiety) Conjunct Neptune (Group Soul, or Relationship with Everything Larger than Ourself ).
• ² Progressed Venus will Change Signs and Directions and Angular Relationships many times during most Lifetimes. But those are Overlays on our original natal Venus, not Replacements.
• ³ Brady’s Book of Fixed Stars, pp.106-108, on the Star Menkar, in the Constellation Cetus, the Whale.

As youalls know by now, we like to have a single, central keyword or phrase to represent each planet, one broad enough that we can use it as the synonym from which we search for a verb that fits the Context that we’re interpreting. So I’m tentatively thinking of adopting Struggle Between Heart and Programming as a possible key phrase for Salacia. A stolen Faux Fur would fit into that Universe, as it would represent our Programming pretty well, while on the other hand, to steal it from the Fox is pretty Heartless.

So how would that work in the 30 April 2022 New Moon Partial Solar Eclipse chart that partially governs the next few weeks? Well, to start with it fits pretty well with the Eclipse itself, as that’s Merged with both Overactive Ego, and Soul.⁴ So this Struggle is Inherent, as we’d Expect it to be in any major Portal to the Overwhere. In spite of this, the Eclipse itself is very well Balanced.⁵

What’s less Balanced in the Eclipse chart are two Incomplete Challenges. We’ll talk about the Challenge to Hope⁶ next time. The other one involves Salacia.⁷ Salacia is not only Exaggerated, it’s also Merged with our old Friend Chiron, which we know is about Converting Despair to Miracles, possibly by Rejecting the Temptation to Identify with Despair, and instead Empathize with it.⁸ Unfortunately that’s not the worst of it, because Manifestation (dwarf planet Makemake) is Contrasted with it.

In other words, this is the Invitation for us to “go Meta” (no relationship to the corporation Facemeta), which means to Witness things from a higher Perspective, as if we’re climbing a Hill to see where the River goes. The Meta Question is What Are We Creating? In other words, we Admit to ourself that we’ve been bogged down in Our Thoughts About Our Feelings about War, Oil, Climate, Old Men Groping around in our Wombs, Inflation, Recession, our Food Supply, the Bees, and the End Times in general, so we haven’t been Paying Attention to the Vibes we’re Projecting. These Vibes are being Added to the Global Vibe, and if we aren’t “part of the Light Solution,” we’re “part of the Light Problem.” Light can be either Photons or Levity, but it’s Critical that we Contribute Gratitude, Visualize Desirable Outcomes, Pray for Rapid Resolution of Conflict, or “Make Light” of the Whole Mess in one way or another.

Unfortunately, that’s still not the worst of it, because this ongoing Debate between our Commitment to Favor Soul over Ego, and What We’re Manifesting at Which Level, is Challenged by none other than Climate Change et al, where the et al includes War, Oil, Climate, Dirty Old Men Groping around in our Wombs, Inflation, Recession, our Food Supply, the Bees, and the End Times in general. We’re trapped in a big Feedback Loop, and it’s up to us to find the Exit. “Never do nothing because you can do too little” – I think it was Margaret Mead who said that.

This woodcut is from The Atmosphere by Camille Flammarion, published in 1873.

• ⁴ New Moon Conjunct asteroid Hybris (Hubris) and Uranus (the Individual Soul).
• ⁵ In a Grand Cross (Mutually complementary Hassles) with Koronis (Coronavirus) on one corner, Ka epaoka awela (Transcendence) on another, and Chariklo-Lachesis-Arachne (see below) on the fourth. Also in a Grand Trine (Dumb-Luck Blessings) with Orcus (Oath-Breaking) and Eurydike (Trust ) on one corner and Pholus-Quaoar (Climate Change et al ) on the third. And also at the apex of a Finger of the Goddess (Pay Attention! ) with Makemake (Manifestation) on one foot and Out of Bounds Pandora (Hope) on the other. Climate Change et al includes its original signal, the Invasion of Ukraine. Chariklo (Confidence/Doubt ) and Lachesis (Karma that hasn’t Expired yet ) and Arachne (the Matrix) would combine to mean something like the Edge between Confidence and Doubt about whether we’re Skilled enough to carry out our Role of Adding Light to the Earth’s Ascension. I’ve certainly been Feeling that! Expect Doubt to arise as it lifts into Consciousness on its way out the Door. Thank it for it’s Service at keeping you Humble, and Let it Go.
• ⁶ Mars-Nemesis (Biting Guilt ) Opposite (Debating With) Orcus-Eurydike (Trust or Distrust in our Ability and Willingness to Reject our Karma) T-Squared (Challenged ) by Pandora Out of Bounds (Hope Exaggerated ).
• ⁷ Chiron-Salacia (Despair or Miracles around our Ego Struggles) Opposite (Contrasted to) Makemake (PIAVAing) T-Squared (Challenged ) by Pholus-Quaoar (Climate Change et al ), with Salacia Out of Bounds (Amplified).
• ⁸ For instance, by saying to ourself, “You Poor Sweetheart, you’re Feeling Despair, aren’t you.” and then Changing the Subject. When we do this, we short-circuit the Identification with Despair, and instead Identify with Compassion for ourself. Identifying with something means that it goes on the end of an “I am …” or “I have …” sentence, such as “I am Hopeless” or “I have Compassion for my Hopelessness.” Changing the Subject is important because otherwise our Mind will take us right back into Our Thoughts About Our Despair. If Changing the Subject is really hard, as it can be, we can say to ourself, You Poor Sweetheart, you’re having Difficulty Changing the Subject, aren’t you.” See https://astrobuss.wordpress.com/category/poor-sweetheart/.

Mandatory Growth Eclipse 4

Dwarf planet Salacia is everywhere these days, and Out of Bounds at that, so it’s time we gave it some Attention. It was in 14 Pisces when it strolled into Huper Consciousness, “A lady wrapped in a large stole of Fox fur.” Stolen Faux fur sounds like kind of a hint. I’m not finding the reference, but Kelley Hunter regards her as a Mermaid, and a Fun-Loving one if I recall correctly. In her Discovery chart (Salacia’s, not Kelley’s) she is Merged with Intuition, Argues with Karma, and is Challenged by her Survival Instincts, by the Granolavirus, and by Respect for Death.¹

Of course, astrological Challenges are Challenges for Hupers, and as a Learning Opportunity their full expression is Adeptness Through Challenge,² so we can’t assume a Venerable planetoid suffers from the same Naïveté as a Huper.³ So we would probably be more accurate to suppose that Salacia is Adept with her Survival Instincts, Dis-Ease, and Respect for Death. As for her Relationship with Karma, how would an Enlightened Entity deal with the Second Harmonic (Tradition)? It’s a Duality, so she’d probably Enjoy Dancing with it. So, Fun-Loving she may be!

She does have one Challenge that’s Incomplete. Were she a Huper, she’d probably endure Stress over her Relationship with her Orbit because of Tension between her Values and her Anxious Religiosity.⁴ Translated into Huper terms, that would be something like our Heart-Felt Values Conflicting with a Judgmental Ethical Standard causing us to have to Choose between Codependent Submission and Open or Passive-Aggressive Rebellion because we don’t feel like we have Healthy Control over the situation. Kinda like Roe v. Wade and the Supremes.

So, not having a planet in the Vacancy that would Balance out these three corners, how might Salacia Resolve her Stress?⁵

I can’t Trust⁶ WordPress to save my draft overnight, but I have to quit. So save my place, and tomorrow we’ll finish Salacia, and talk about her Relationship with last Saturday’s Eclipse.

• ¹ Salacia at Discovery Conjunct dwarf planet Asbolus (Intuition), Opposite asteroid Karma (Karma), and T-Square to the Opposition between asteroid Cyllarus (Respect for Death) and dwarf planet Quaoar (Survival Instincts) Conjunct asteroid Koronis (Coronavirus) – ie, a Grand Cross.
• ² We used to say that astrological Squares (two planets three Signs apart, the Fourth Harmonic) meant Mastery through Challenge, but Master can implies Slaves, and sounds too much like the Obsolete and Dying Patriarchy. So even though Adeptness is kind of a clumsy word, we use it instead. Adeptitude might roll off the tongue better, but it’s not officially a real word.
• ³ Okay, we’re all Old Souls here – but as old as a planetoid? Maybe. Probably older, actually. Our Souls are Immortal, the planets are only a few billions of years old, if the Big Bangers have it right, which I doubt. But there’s our Huper Amnesia, our Karma, and our Programming. Of course there could also be planetary Amnesia, planetary Karma, and planetary Programming.
• ⁴ Dwarf planet Hylonome (Self-Sovereignty and Codependence) Conjunct asteroid Arachne (Grandmother Spider, or the Contextual Field ) T-Squaring the Opposition between Venus (Values) and asteroid Damocles (Anxiety) Conjunct Neptune (Group Soul, or Relationship with Everything Larger than Ourself ).
• ⁵ Of course we’re looking at this as if from the Perspective of Earth – Salacia’s view would be totally different. But as with any astrology, when we speak of a planet, we’re really speaking of the Relationship we have with that planet, from our Perspective on Earth.
• ⁶ Eurydike (Trust ) was just Amplified last Friday after all, so that’s still an issue for us.

The Heavies

Some people have a genetic proclivity to respond to THC with Paranoia or even temporary Psychosis. Apart from that, in my Experience we can divide THC into three kinds of Adventures. The first kind is as if nothing happened, as with the weed from that Kansas roadside. The second kind, my fave, is what we used to call “Gigglyweed” – everything would be Hilariously Funny, and we’d Laugh till we had to stop because our side hurt so much we couldn’t Breathe. Once we caught our Breath we’d start Laughing at everything all over again.

The third variety was The Heavies. Imagine watching a movie where you’re really Sucked Into the Drama, and then there’s a Plot Twist that makes you totally revise your Take on everything that’s gone before. That’s The Heavies. Whatever is going on around you is such an Intense Drama that you’re totally Engrossed, and your jaw is Flapping in the Wind. Then you have what feels like a Profound Insight that makes you see this Intense Drama from one or several Totally Different Viewpoints, and it’s just Stupefying – and even more Intense.

That’s what it can be like when (dwarf) planet Pluto is Lit Up Brightly, as it is now, till 6 October 2021 around 11:28 am PDT (Pluto Stationary, in 25 Capricorn). I used to refer to it as “Swimming Through Jello.” Whatever strikes you as Heavy would be a good Interpretation for Pluto, for you. I usually interpret it as Compulsion, or Single-Pointed Attention. It can be associated with Addiction, or Death (which of course is usually Ego Death), both of which can be pretty Compelling. Pluto is also the Timekeeper – it sets the current Weltanschauung or Milieu, what the History and Herstory books will say about any segment of Linear Time. Like the way we’re all Sucked Into the Cantbreatheavirus Drama. Hard to Ignore, Hard to Escape.

We can use that to Get Conscious of our Addictions, so we can Make Different Choices, and Change them. For instance, Here’s Me, and I’m Craving Chocolate. The Cravings can be Very Strong (especially if we have The Munchies). We know the Craving comes from Inside of us somehow, but like that tune, we can’t get it out of our Head. What if we Reframed the Mind’s Obsession to Here’s Me, and I’m Experiencing Compulsion. The astrowinds are blowing Compulsion our way. I plugged Chocolate in because it was Convenient for me.

But wait – What is it we know about Emotions? They’re Intransitive – they don’t take Objects. We’re never Angry at someone or Angry about something, we’re Angry, Period. We’re Experiencing the Sensation that’s called Anger. The Objects and ats and abouts are just Our Thoughts About Our Emotions, and we know that those always lead us into a Swamp, if not to an Abyss. I’m not Addicted to Chocolate, I’m Experiencing the Sensation that’s called Compulsion, and one of my Thoughts About This Emotion happens to be Chocolate. What if I Decided to Challenge my Habitual Focus on MyThoughtsAboutMyEmotions, and Focused instead on the Emotion itself?

I start by Asking myself, Where In My Body Do I Feel This Compulsion? It seems to be centered in the back of my Throat. What Does It Feel Like There? Kind of an uncomfortable Tightness. Can I Relax My Resistance To It And Just Surrender Into It? Easy. I get an Image of an unsteerable cart rushing down a hill, and an image of a large Nipple (implying that I’m small ). Oho, so it’s not about Being Addicted to Chocolate, it’s about Being Addicted to Sustenance! It’s not Chocolate, it’s Hunger! I’ll just get Dead if I eliminating my Addiction to Hunger, unless I manage to become a Breatharian. Do I Still Crave Chocolate? Not nearly as much – it’s any Luscious Dish that I’m thinking about now! Like Lamb with Sauce Béarnaise. I don’t need to Eliminate Chocolate, I need to Spend More Time Cooking!

This Pluto Station is quite Unusual in it’s “Simplicity”…

Simplicity in a chart isn’t necessarily good! You have to Ask, What Is It That Makes This Chart Simple-Looking? Here the answer is that it’s Mostly Blank! Four planets and the Galactic Center, at the End of the Zodiac but lapping over into Aries, and That’s It! My first thought was What is Going to Keep this chart from Tipping over and Falling off? My Intuition Answered – Is there perhaps a Grand Quintile there? And Lo, there was!

A Grand Quintile (the chart-spanning Pentangle) is five planets more or less equally spaced ’round the Zodiac, 72 Degrees apart. They’re “invisible” to the casual observer, because they aren’t a convenient multiple of 30 Degrees apart, so they aren’t in the same Degrees (in different Sifgns). A Grand Quintile means Something We Really Need to Learn (about Compulsion in this case) Is Presenting Itself. We probably Intuitively know What it is, but the Intuition may not be Clear or Concise. Do we know where to Look for it? The other planets in the Configuration usually give us clues…

• Dwarf planet Salacia! – We haven’t used Her before. She’s often interpreted as a Mermaid – Magic, Emotion (Water), Seduction – Salacious even, Feminine Power. She’s Strong too in this time (“oob” or Out of Bounds).
• Dwarf planet Altjira – We have run into Altjira before – it symbolizes the Australian Aboriginal Inspiration for Life to Exist in the Physical Plane. More Magic, more Feminine Creative Power. Altjira is also Out of Bounds or Very Strong.
• Asteroid Hopi – Meaning Respect for All Things, so we probably have Judgments that are ready to be Let Go Of (we Avoid the word “Release” because we don’t want the Unconscious to think we want to sign a new lease on our Karma). Hopi is also Out of Bounds or Very Strong!
• Asteroid Klotho – New Beginnings, almost always a Good Sign. We may have to Grieve an old Paradigm, but usually it wasn’t working anyway. Time to move on.
• Among five planets, three are Out of Bounds, and a fourth is Stationary! That’s an impressively Powerful Grand Quintile!

So how often do we Notice the “small, quiet” Voice of Intuition, let alone Follow its Suggestions? How often do we Listen to OurThoughts-AboutOurEmotions (which often aren’t really Ours anyway) instead? OurThoughtsAboutOurEmotions usually Amplify our actual Emotions, Sucking us even Deeper into the Drama. Does the Drama Further Our Life Goals, or Distract Us From Them? We Can Invest Tremendous Energy into These Dramas – Are They Actually More Important To Us than Our Life Goals? What Would Happen If Our Life Goals Were As Compelling? Can We Transfer This Tremendous Energy to Pursuit of Our Life Goals?

Aside from this Big Life Lesson, the Pluto Station chart contains two Challenges (Naked Squares), one an Argument between Our Concept of Spirit and Spiritual Headquarters (Neptune Waxing Square Galactic Center), and the other between Compulsion and Denial (Pluto Waning Square to Eris).

Since the Galactic Center is basically fixed in the Sky (it moves, but very slowly), in the current Era, any Cycle with the Galactic Center will begin with “An old Bridge over a Beautiful Stream is still in Constant Use” (28 Sagittarius), which is to say, Spirit is Alive and Well – Can You Feel Her, Surrender your Ego to Hers, and Accept Her Grace, Recognizing that All Prayers Are Answered, though not always in ways we Expect, and not always in our own Timetable? Our Posts on PIAVA suggest how we might deal with Prayers that don’t seem Successful.

Which seems to be the Greater Compulsion at any given moment – to Accept What We’ve Been Denying, or to Continue to Deny It? Both could be occurring simultaneously, in different Arenas. For instance, we could be Compelled to tell our Employer to Take this job and Shove It! while we continue to be Codependent in our Close Relationships. Remember that Denial is a Healthy Skill that Protects us from Overwhelm that can Shatter the Ego. When the Ego Shatters, we have no Choice but to drop everything else and try to put Humpty Back Together Again. Or rather, since we know that neither All the King’s Horses nor All His Men could do that, we need to Find a Seed from which we can Grow a New and More Capable Ego, maybe Asking the Queen if Her Curanderas could Help.

In this Cycle, Denial is Stronger than Compulsion (Pluto moves faster than Eris), though in any given situation it could be that The Pressure to End Denial could be Stronger than our Compulsion to Avoid Rocking the Boat. The current Cycle is Waning, a Warning that we need to Let It Go, and Move into the Void that always occurs between Cycles. This Cycle began in mid-December 1756 and is about “Pelicans Menaced by the Behavior and Refuse of Men seek safer areas for bringing up their young.” Which may Explain why so many species have been Leaving the Planet, though their Morphogenetic Fields still Orbit in the Morphosphere. Wouldn’t it be great if our Planet was finished with this “Sixth” Mass Extinction, though the Next Cycle doesn’t begin till early in the next Century.

On the Personal Level, most of us Struggle between Denial and Compulsion every day in some form or another. This Struggle is just Amped Up during this Window. Cleaning Up Our Act would probably be an excellent Response to Whatever Tugs at us here. As a Multi-Century Cycle winds down, the tidier we can leave our desk or office or yard or Relationships or Health or Credit or rap sheet, the less Garbage we’ll need to Clean Up in order to Grow Corn in the Next Cycle. Even if we aren’t Alive for it in our current Body, we will be in other Bodies. Even if we get to Samadhi in this Lifetime, won’t we be Back to help Others after that?