Dwarf planet Ceres (technically “1 Ceres”) will conjoin dwarf planet Pluto Sunday at 3:17 am EST (8:17 UTC) in mid-Capricorn, just as both planets are being approached by spacecraft from Earth. Hence, even though astrology’s trickster Mercury is now returned to direct apparent motion, the sort of reality too incredible for plausible fiction continues apace.

Ceres conjoining (sharing the same degree of the same sign with) Pluto does not imply the same sort of unbelievable drama that too often correlated with Mercury’s first retrograde of the year.

Rather, what we have is an unlikely auspiciousness. What human beings set in motion years ago has unintentionally but perhaps meaningfully synchronized with what has been in motion since long before humanity existed.

You can’t make this sort of stuff up. You can, however, apply a bit of astrology’s perspective to not only interpret it, but also figure out how you fit in.

And fit in you do. You are part of the solar system. Furthermore, as the masthead for this Planet Waves page says (and as the Planet Waves annual edition proves at length), “You Belong Here.”

One of the ways of defining a system is that any one part will provide information about any other part — even all the parts as a whole. We can begin with the tale of Pluto and Ceres. Actually, there is more than one tale to tell.

The very names Pluto and Ceres refer to a rich, complex, powerful, dramatic story from western mythology. A condensed version begins something like this: Pluto (god of the underworld) kidnapped Persephone (Ceres’ daughter) because he thought he could. It was a case of might-makes-right impunity, which has characterized so much of human history.

Ceres, a powerful Earth goddess in her own right, in effect told Pluto (and his complicit old-boy power network) “No, you can’t.” She made her point by taking Earth to the edge of destruction.

Fortunately for Earth, a compromise was worked out by which the ancients explained the seasonal cycle humanity has learned to synchronize with in order to thrive in permanent settlements at temperate latitudes. It’s such a good story (and worth your while to study in depth), one is tempted to believe that it is not entirely made up.

On another level of story, Ceres was discovered by an astronomer using a telescope on the first day of a new century: Jan. 1, 1801. Its prime numeric prefix (“1”) indicates it was the first object found in what we now call the main belt of (mostly) asteroids between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.

Pluto, for its part, was discovered in 1930 by an astronomer using a telescope equipped with a camera. The photographic images revealed an object orbiting the Sun in the cold dark of what we now call the Kuiper Belt of objects out past Neptune.

Both Ceres and Pluto have been variously classified over the years. The whole story of promotions and demotions actually says more about humanity (and our attempts to define our place in the cosmos) than it says about the objects themselves.

Pluto and Ceres just do their thing, indifferent to human drama. Indeed, one is tempted to consider the history of astronomy and its seasonal cycles of definition and re-definition as at least partly mythical in how it has unfolded.

Now, a new chapter opens. A chapter we have written ourselves into, however inadvertently. Now, however unintentionally, little robot emissaries of humanity (equipped with telescopes and cameras) are close and getting closer to sharing proximity with Ceres and Pluto at the same time — an astronomical form of conjunction when you think about it. At the same time Pluto and Ceres reach a conjunction on astrology’s zodiac.

It’s not just any astrological conjunction. It’s a merger of objects named after mythical rivals who duked it out toe-to-toe while denizens of heaven and Earth trembled. It’s a merger of objects that have been put through a gamut of definitions, arriving at their current classifications at the same time in the same space. It’s a drama coming full circle to begin again.

You can’t make that sort of stuff up. It is as if humanity is moving beyond the synchronicity with the seasons we achieved long ago. It is as though we are now moving through the auspices of our mechanical and electronic manifestations to synchronize with something more — the system we call solar.

And since you are undeniably part of the solar system, there will be an implicit meaning for you when Ceres merges symbolic energies with Pluto on Sunday. It will be a sign, plain and simple — one for which only you can provide the final interpretation as an expression of your place where you have always belonged.

As Ceres and Pluto await their respective close-ups, it’s plain to see that you have both some thinking to do, and some doing to think about. There’s something going on which you could never simply make up, and you are here, unavoidably conjoined with it. If the whole scenario makes you feel real big and real small at the same time, maybe that’s the point.

Offered In Service

Len is available for astrology readings. You can contact him at lenwallick [at] gmail [dot] com.

Saturday is Valentine’s Day — a commercial holiday that either makes you giddy or fills you with dread if you buy into the hype, or leaves you completely nonplussed if you do not. Some fitting astrology is in the works this weekend, though you’ll have to choose for yourself how you use it.

True love: my garden’s last heirloom tomato this summer. Photo by Amanda Painter.

On one level, it can be summed up as: all’s fair in love and war — until that point when things have gone too far. And then it’s not.

In other words, this weekend’s astrology is giving you an opportunity to question the old maxim. After all, it’s pretty cynical to equate love and war, even in the saying’s original 1579 form: “the rules of fair play do not apply in love and war” (from John Lyly’s novel Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit). Just a little something to ponder.

Astrologically, there are three main aspects contributing to this theme. Let’s take them one by one. Each aspect has positive constructive potential, and ways it might be challenging.

1. Mars in Pisces is square the centaur planet Pholus in Sagittarius. On the one hand, this could feel like it’s time to pop the cork on passion — to “Just do it,” push past any inhibitions and really go for what gets you hot and wet (or fired up).

The caveat: don’t let moodiness be a wet blanket if your expectations are not met (Mars in Pisces can get a little pouty). Expectations, whether positive or negative, can set you up for a big fall even on a normal day. With Valentine’s Day, that potential increases.

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And feed them on your dreams, the one they pick’s the one you’ll know by.
— Graham Nash (from “Teach Your Children”)

Venus and Nessus are a big part of the astrology this weekend, but to see the connection between them (and you) will require you to walk a road less taken. You see, astrology has its well-worn ways.

The Sun and Moon are the foundation, and rightfully so. Classical (visible to the unaided eye) planets are appropriately next in importance.

As for events, New and Full Moons, eclipses, major ingresses (changes of sign) and points where sign-ruling planets apparently change direction are justifiably prioritized. Yet, every once in a while, an astrological event that does not fit into traditional designations of precedence nonetheless appears to distinguish both the whole of the moment and a vast expanse of time.

Nessus, more thoroughly known as the centaur object 7066 Nessus, enters Pisces for the long haul at 4:18 am EST (9:18 UTC) on Saturday. It may well prove to be just such a momentous occasion.

Part of the implicitly monumental nature of Nessus’ impending ingress to Pisces has to do with the subject matter by which Nessus is known among some of the most influential and reputable astrologers of our time.

As Cam Hassard averred in a long-ago Planet Waves article, Nessus is associated with issues of abuse “that may have an extremely long trajectory.” It is therefore no surprise that Melanie Reinhart’s key phrase “the buck stops here” has become the dominant mantra through which Nessus is interpreted.

Even so, as with all centaur objects, Nessus cannot be neatly confined to just one subject and one phrase. Like Chiron, it is nuanced and complex. Pertinent subject matter also has to do with how Nessus came to be classified as a centaur.

Centaurs as a class of object have elongated orbits around the Sun. They are also steeply inclined to the ecliptic plane in which the classical planets circle the Sun.

More importantly, the paths of centaurs cross the orbits of major planets in the outer solar system (beyond the main asteroid belt that separates Mars from Jupiter), effectively lacing familiar astrological themes together into a less often realized whole.

In its own path long path around the Sun, Nessus crosses the orbits of Uranus, Neptune and (arguably) Pluto.

Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto are three planets nobody knew about before 1781, yet which are now ignored by tropical astrologers only at significant peril of error. In other words, Nessus does not symbolically support outdated paradigms of what the world is or how it works. Nessus is what Mike Huckabee (to cite just one example) cannot bear to acknowledge.

Additionally, there is the simple fact that Nessus moves slowly around the zodiac, taking more than 120 years to circulate through all 12 signs. Hence, its changes of sign are relatively rare. Moments seldom seen are inherently meaningful for astrologers, indicating a new era at hand.

After concluding nearly a decade in Aquarius, Nessus is about to begin more than 18 years traversing Pisces. For many of us, the rest of our lives in this mortal coil will very possibly unwind before Nessus makes its way to Aries. That consideration alone makes Nessus entering Pisces for the long haul an exceptional moment.

Astrology has many ways to interpret the occasional rare ingress, and potentially a new era at its beginning. One way is to consider what significant aspects a familiar classical planet is making at the same moment, especially if the aspects are to objects of the same classification as one making ingress.

In serendipitous splendor equal to its luminosity, Venus (the brightest planet) will fill the bill as a symbolic signifier when Nessus enters Pisces for good this weekend.

Venus is already in Pisces, along with Mars, Neptune and Chiron. What’s more, Venus is exalted (a way of saying “very powerfully expressed”) in Pisces.

Most significantly, however, Venus will inaugurate the long, uninterrupted continuum of Nessus in Pisces by effectively lacing together (through aspect rather than orbital path) two contrasting energies: Chiron and Pluto.

While sharing a lot of similarities in how they orbit the Sun, Chiron and Pluto contrast in how they express for astrologers. Among its many manifestations, Chiron often corresponds with something getting your attention immediately and in no uncertain (if often an inconvenient) way, persisting until its issue is addressed.

Pluto, on the other hand, is often related to what takes a long time to come to your attention, but which more than makes up for lost time with an irresistible sense of gravity once it does.

Soon after reaching a sextile (a separation of 60 degrees on the zodiac and in the sky) with Pluto in Capricorn this weekend, Venus will conjoin (share the same degree of Pisces with) Chiron.

By so moving from an implicit reinforcement with Pluto into a metaphorical merger with Chiron, Venus will implicitly suggest how you may know what a potential new era has in store by how others (especially those with whom you somehow contrast) know you and how you know them.

Indicated then, is a productive way to begin what could be a new era, albeit one which many might overlook. Recommended first is a good look at how you lace up with others through what you both intentionally and unintentionally teach them (and they you) about how the world works.

Following such an inquiry, likewise advisable is to exercise your gift to choose and change what you teach or receive as teaching — or not. If it all sounds a little heavy, let this one question lighten your load just a bit: Would you rather be on a road traveled by those who are on their way to wondering what just happened?

Offered In Service

Len is available for astrology readings. You can contact him at lenwallick [at] gmail [dot] com.

By Amanda Painter

Believe it or not, we’re in the last week of Mercury’s retrograde through Aquarius. Before you cheer, however, we have its “storm” phase to navigate in the days just before and after it stations direct Feb. 11. Along the way, there’s something akin to what Eric has called “a second Full Moon” (with a distinctly positive side) to make things interesting.

A winter bloom inside to soften the stormy blows of Maine outside. Photo by Amanda Painter.

First, the pseudo Full Moon: Jupiter in Leo is making an opposition to the Sun in Aquarius, exact Friday, Feb. 6 at 1:20 pm EST (18:20 UTC).

Jupiter’s themes include expansion, optimism, righteousness, judgment and indulgence. In Leo, those terms merge with ‘heart’, ‘pride’ and ‘confidence’. Opposite the Sun, you’ll likely see an exaggeration of whichever of these themes are most present in your life — and you’ll see their expression in your relationships.

That’s the nature of oppositions: the root of any conflict, magnification or polarity/contrast is always within ourselves, but it takes its most visible, concrete shape as we interact with others.

With the Sun in Aquarius, you may notice an emphasis on how you see yourself within certain groups — or perhaps how you see yourself as moving through a group without feeling like you’re really a part of it. Aquarius carries an interesting interplay of the individual vs. group dynamic. As Amanda Moreno (who has her Sun in Aquarius) said last week in her column, “We Aquarians sure do love a good tribal vibe — even though we often feel like complete outsiders, or make ourselves that way.”

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After today’s Leo Full Moon has peaked at 6:09 pm EST / 23:09 UTC, you might want to take (or better yet, make) a turn. It’s better to participate actively than to let things turn as they may. It’s also better to observe and take a hand rather than take a chance by judging or drawing conclusions before the opportunity for your turn presents itself.

Taking turns is almost certainly something you learned at a very young age. Even though it is a learned behavior, it is also a very natural thing to do so long as one masters certain skills.

The most important skill to master when it comes to taking turns is patience. Waiting for your turn, knowing when it is and responding appropriately with good timing is not necessarily natural.

Fortunately for all of us, Mercury’s current apparent motion in Aquarius will help you to know when some major turns are in store. As a bonus, it will also allow you to place those future turns in context with some strikingly similar turns of the recent past.

One major crossroads indicated by currently retrograde Mercury is its second (of three) sextile aspects to Saturn’s first (of two) sojourn’s in Sagittarius. That second sextile from Mercury to Saturn will take place on Thursday at 6:39 am EST (11:39 UTC).

A sextile aspect from one object or point to another represents a separation of 60 degrees on the zodiac circle and in the sky. It always takes place between signs that differ in elemental identity (fire, earth, air or water), yet also between signs with elemental characteristics that support each other.

In the case of Thursday’s sextile from retrograde Mercury (in Aquarius) to still-direct Saturn (in Sagittarius) the elements in support of each other are air (Aquarius) and fire (Sagittarius).

Air and fire support each other in real life. One of the necessities of getting a fire started and keeping it going is sufficient ventilation. Likewise, once going, a fire warms surrounding and circulating air — a tendency that has come in handy for the survival and wellbeing of our kind for thousands of years.

The support air and fire have for each other in real life translates for how astrologers interpret sextile aspects between fire and air signs. Additionally, relatively swift Mercury’s retrograde motion (relative to slow Saturn, that is) translates to how you can make some correlations of your own for Thursday and further down the road, regardless of how much you know about astrology.

First off, realize that between today and Thursday you should go slow and yield the right-of-way as much as possible while still keeping your own wheels on the road in forward gear. That’s the basic strategy going into and out of today’s implicitly powerful Leo Full Moon.

Even now, however, you should begin to look both ahead down the road to Thursday and back in the rear view mirror. Aim that backward glance toward the first of three successive sextiles from Mercury to Saturn (of which Thursday’s will be the second).

The first sextile from Mercury (at that time in direct motion through Aquarius) to Saturn in Sagittarius took place on Jan. 5. While attempting to recall what was going on for you specifically at that time, you should also take into consideration what was going on with the astrology then so as to draw some intuitive parallels — as symbolic air and fire would have you do.

The first sextile from Mercury to Saturn followed (by less than 24 hours) the immediately previous Full Moon in Cancer. As Eric noted yesterday, that Full Moon was an “emotionally dramatic scenario.” Additionally, less than two hours before Mercury’s first of three sextiles to Saturn, Mercury entered its echo (or “shadow”) phase, passing the point where it would eventually resume direct motion again on Feb. 11. That began the “overture” preceding the opera constituting Mercury’s period of apparent retrograde motion back through the first half of Aquarius.

Hence, you have some valuable information from both the astrology leading into Mercury’s first of three sextiles to Saturn, and your experience of it. You can apply that information towards the second such occasion on Thursday. Maybe it will not be as dramatic a scenario, but maybe also you can (with the awareness astrology bestows) make a difference in how this next turn turns out. It’s worth a try.

Looking further ahead, Mercury’s third and final sextile to Saturn will take place at another auspicious time for interactions between the Sun (representing what is ideally a fully conscious awareness) and the Moon (usually corresponding to a more visceral and different form of consciousness).

That’s because Mercury’s third and final sextile to Saturn will take place just over a week after Mercury has resumed direct motion and gotten up speed (resuming to its normal expressions again). It will also be just over 24 hours after the second Aquarius New Moon in a row (on Feb. 18 for most of us).

The second Aquarius New Moon on Feb. 18 will break a pattern in place since October of last year. That pattern consisted of five successive New Moons in the first degree of a successive sign.

The New Moon on Feb. 18 will be in the very last degree of Aquarius, turning the pattern of the previous five months on its head. That second Aquarius New Moon will be followed immediately by the Moon entering Pisces literally seconds later, the Sun entering Pisces literally minutes later, and Mercury’s third and final sextile to Saturn just over a day later.

It all adds up to quite a turn, one way or the other, following Feb. 19. Fortunately, it’s a turn you can plan to participate in now. It all begins by taking a conscious hand on the steering wheel, and making a wise turn (based on your experience following Jan. 5) on Thursday.

All you have to do is what you already know. Get a grip, commit, and follow through with your part in the scheme of things. With the astrology of previous turns available to assist you with awareness, there is no question that you will be up to the task of taking turns yet to come.

Offered In Service

Len is available for astrology readings. You can contact him at lenwallick [at] gmail [dot] com.