Your Monday Astrology Diary

By Amanda Painter

On our way to the last Uranus-Pluto square in one week, the astrology is going to keep us on our toes — intellectually, emotionally, physically. Because it’s possible to take this week’s astrology at both the macro (or philosophical) level and mundane or physical levels, I’m going to touch on several of the major aspects that are in force during the first half of this week in more or less chronological order.

Photo by Amanda Painter

Today it’s worth noting that asteroid Ceres in Capricorn is making a square to asteroid Eris in Aries (exact at 4:37 am EDT / 8:37 UTC).

Although these are technically ‘minor’ planets, they’re underscoring a notable facet of one theme of the Uranus-Pluto square (and doing so from the same two signs): the sense that some sort of revolutionary shift is underway in gender roles, and in our own inner sense of its polarity and integration.

In the case of today’s Ceres-Eris square, the astrology seems to ask, ‘What happens when our old ideas of nurturing and motherhood push up against the fragmented realities of identity we’re living in today’s world? What does it mean to be a woman (or to nurture yourself) at this point in time, in a society such as ours?’

These questions get developed as Venus exacts its conjunction to Eris in Aries on Wednesday (exact at 11:18 pm EDT / 3:18 UTC). This is also the same day Mars conjoins Uranus in Aries and squares Pluto.

On the one hand, Venus could be seen as bringing some sense of unity to Eris just as Mars gets stretched and confronted by the evolution/revolution machine. It’s like the planets are saying that maybe it takes some receptivity and love and reunification of our highest values (and of our inner feminine) to hold space for that process Mars is entering into. In one sense, ‘Masculinity’ is being overhauled, and is playing catch-up to femininity (Venus went through the Uranus-Pluto square last week).

Consider also that Eris carries an element of subversion to it (witness Eric’s favorite example of Mercury conjunct Eris: Stephen Colbert’s amazing roasting of George W. Bush at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner several years ago). As Eric noted in an email to me, “Love is subversive. Sex is revolutionary.”

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By Amanda Painter

We’re entering a very rich couple of weeks of astrology right now. Some months, a Full Moon like we have today in Virgo might feel like the peak of energy, a big, dynamic turning point with which you can mark your life. And it still might be that for you personally — but it’s also part of a series of interrelated events that are feeding into something with potentially significant personal and collective ramifications.

The Education of Achilles (ca. 1772), by James Barry. Here Chiron is instructing the Greek warrior hero Achilles in music; music is strongly associated with the sign Pisces.

That “something” is the last of the seven exact contacts of the Uranus-Pluto square on March 16. Uranus in Aries and Pluto in Capricorn have been dancing in this square aspect for nearly three years — but were in effect long before their first exact contact in June 2012, and their aftershocks will unfold over the next several years.

If these two planets have defined our current era, this next phase of that era asks us to get some perspective on what just happened and build toward a common vision. Not an easy task when you consider how hard it is for even a small group of people to agree where to go for dinner.

Astrologically speaking, the cosmos is giving us some clues. From where I’m sitting, one layer of clues are pointing to a correlation between how we give space to and integrate our gender polarities within us, our awareness of that process, and how that maturation within us might correlate to processes around us. You’ve heard the maxim “As above, so below”; you can also think of it as “As within, so without.”

Here’s what’s suggesting this theme of maturing and integrating gender polarities (particularly our inner masculine) in our immediate astrology: Saturday, March 7, the Sun conjoins centaur planet Chiron in Pisces at 11:21 pm EST (4:21 UTC Sunday). Setting the overall emotional tone for the whole weekend, the Moon ingresses Libra at 7:52 pm Friday (00:52 UTC Saturday), traveling through this sign until Monday.

On one basic level, the Libra Moon indicates sensitivity to relationship partners and a desire for harmony and balance with others. For the last three years, the Moon in Libra has also meant that the signifier for our emotional bodies and intuition is in direct contact with the Uranus-Pluto square. Notice this weekend how you feel about some of the personal-is-political issues that have become emblematic of our times, because those areas of upheaval, struggle and innovation are your examples of the Uranus-Pluto square at work.

So how does the Sun-Chiron conjunction in Pisces fit in? Consider that the Sun represents your mature ego, your awareness of yourself as an individual in the world. Consider also that Chiron — an immortal healer and teacher who sustained a mortal wound in mythology — was a centaur: a half-man, half-horse warrior. His half-and-half, “both and” status points to the themes of polarity and integration.

In a piece on Sun conjunct Chiron that Eric Francis wrote two years ago, he stated, “Sun-Chiron aspects can represent the very conditions that allow an immature man to grow into an expressive and responsible one.” He notes in that same article how in a woman, Chiron aspecting the Sun can indicate how she defines herself through the man she is with — until a transit from Chiron as it moves through the sky (and zodiac) prompts that identity orientation to shift.

This weekend, as the Sun and Chiron meet in mid-Pisces, you have a window to explore that kind of integration. In the same article, Eric wrote, “One thing that stands out about Sun-Chiron in Pisces is how as part of this process, men must make contact with their feminine side and their emotional nature, but without sacrificing their maleness.” You could say the challenge for women is to recognize the strength inherent in their feminine, emotional nature. Then you use that recognition to reclaim the sense of purpose and achievement associated with your inner masculine side.

Now, other than Sun-Chiron and Uranus-Pluto being exact within about a week of each other, what is linking them? Thematically, it has to do with this masculine/feminine polarity showing up in the astrology in another form.

Earlier this week, Venus (the planet symbolizing the inner feminine) conjoined Uranus in Aries and squared Pluto. Early next week, Mars (symbolizing the inner masculine) does the same.

What does it mean to have Venus pass through the culture-changing and era-defining Uranus-Pluto square so close to Mars doing the same, and so close to the last exact Uranus-Pluto contact? On a macro scale (rather than the personal), does it represent a revolution in feminine identity (or of how feminine identity shapes society)? Is it hinting to us how to break a deadlock and open up the space for maleness to see itself and mature collectively (Sun-Chiron)?

If so, it will likely take significant time before we see the ripple effect of this astrology in the world around us. However, we won’t see anything of the sort if we don’t pay attention to these shifts and opportunities within us — beginning this weekend.

For some deeper reading about this idea of reclaiming masculinity in a way that is holistic and healthy, see Eric’s article The Radical Notion that Men Are People.