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.
Thank you, Len. I’ve just signed on to work in a well-established wellness center, and find myself in a new situation of learning how to work independently within a group setting. (Very Aquarius!) Both Amanda’s piece today — which was brilliant — and now yours offer welcome and timely advice. It’s not easy, for me anyway, to see objectively “what you both intentionally and unintentionally teach them (and they you) about how the world works,” but I can definitely see how that becomes one of the threads that lace us together. It’s actually beyond beautiful to have Venus, of all archetypes, offering an example to follow in how to lace perhaps disparate energies together in harmony.
Thank you Len.
And Happy Birthday! 😉
Strawberry: Thank you for your kind birthday wishes, as well as for generously sharing how the astrology is manifesting in your life. May your independent (yet collaborative) efforts to support healing extend beyond the walls of your new workplace and into the world so as to be felt in every corner of every life.
I’m in the midst of a just-turned-4-years-old, incredible Aquarian child. When people are arguing around her, she will start singing the songs she has learned about expressing your emotions in a healthy manner. She tells people often that we need to have happy hearts.
She also has the ability to clear a room when she farts, and if you tell her she’s stinky she replies “No I’m not, I’m beautiful. Actually, I’m awesome.”
She’s one of those kids you know is going to make a difference in the world because at 4 years old, she already is. She’s one of my greatest teachers.
When I look at her, I just know in my heart that this new era that you are referring to is going to be an incredible and wonderful experience beyond what our human race has ever witnessed before.
Happy birthday, Len! It’s a beautiful day.
Wow Mandy, Wow. Thanks for sharing that.
This is the point of possibility that we are living in. Must be joyous to live with such creative, free and loving expression.
Aren’t children the best of us? We were there once and right now is calling all of us back to the future. LOL 🙂
Thank you Len.
Happy birthday!
From Rosa Parks on a bus, to Obama in the White House….the end of an era indeed; and, looking at the ‘news’, perhaps what is old is new(s) again…but now perhaps also, we shall have new tools.
cycles within cycles
their patterns drawn
blossom and fall
blossom and fall
now, is the named certainty
always taking form
the daybreak of alpha and omega
the horizon of a solstice dawn
shalom
the idea that we are not alone
that our home
is a shared space
that is graced
with joy and care
where harmony works
minds together
and for each one and all
hearts flowing through the seasons
there is warmth around the iron vessel
shalom
Love, Nilou
This is exciting, Len. I am looking foward to your commentary on Venus and Chiron as they are together in my Natal chart, though in Aquarius. Nessus in Pisces is also exciting because I am Pisces, and the Centaur will be an influential aspect in the remainder of my active life. The buck stops here. My life lessons come home to roost.
Happy Birthday to you!
DivaCarla, This resonates with me so much right now. – The buck stops here. My life lessons come home to roost. –
And I have this abundant knowing that it IS MY call to make on how they (my life lessons) appear in my world. Either I have been always, stumblingly, moving toward the true beautiful expression of my deepest desires or I have failed miserably to live up to my potential!
Which ever way I “decide” to see it IS THE Way I will experience and express my life. Wow, that is so powerful and also terrifying as well. But lately I experience the capacity to shift my focus in an instant – and I tend to notice rather quickly when my focus is of an alder version of my operating system – but my reality shifts IMMEDIATLY! That is something new in the matrix. Never before have I felt so absolutely clear that it is all me.
I can do this shift…..I know that now. Thanks Len for your interpretive genius because it expresses my felt truth of this moment.
Ahhh Nessus, it is conjunct my North Node and does make me feel it’s weight. And very soon T-Nessus will be square my natal Nessus. Any thoughts on how this might present in the 8th house? I’m happy Venus is there at the start to smooth things over a bit.
Happy Birthday Len!
Natal Nessus square mid-point between natal Chyron and Merc in AQ. Ingress into PI will place him opposite natal Pluto (and conj Sun) Hm. With Nessus Chyron and Pluto in the mix, eminent change and healing in the works? Could be on that path. The one wherein the buck stops, but doesn’t carry on as baggage.
Thanks, Len. And a very Happy Birthday!
Mandy: Thank you in turn for your birthday wishes. Special thanks for sharing your experience with with that young Aquarian in your life. Wish i had a way to contact David Bowie and suggest that he re-write “Young Americans” for “Young Aquarians” – it would be a fitting tribute to her brilliantly expressive spirit.
Marie / Nilou: Oh, thank you! Thank you for your gift of verse as well as the great heart beating inside of you (without which your great mind would not be so lyrical). Your birthday wishes are gratefully received.
DivaCarla: Humbled thanks to you as well for acknowledging my solar return. As far as further ruminations regarding Venus conjoining Chiron, Eric has got that base covered in this evening’s weekly subscriber’s edition’s lead article. You will love his take on the matter!
beths: Thank you for your kind wishes and for your question. Without seeing your whole nativity, my answer cannot possibly be complete, but consider what role the 8th house might play. The 8th house is similar to an authentic (as opposed to ceremonial) rite of passage into a new, more mature, more appropriate level of consciousness about how life in a material world is more about sharing and custodianship than owning. Hopefully you will find this limited insight satisfactory and useful. It’s doing the best i can with what i have to work with in the moment.
aword: Ah! Your birthday wishes are received with as full a heart as yours is conveying them. Thank you once again for sharing with us how the uncanny set of your own nativity so reliably resonates with the transits so as to resonate with so many (if not all) of us! As one of the first of your Pluto-in-Virgo generation (and a bellwether at that) your sense of the “buck stops” appears to ring absolutely true.
Len – I have a certain perspective which feels a lot like the ending of Fight Club. Its as if (and of course this is not literally true) my world has collapsed and there is nothing left to fear. I feel like I have accepted all of me and now I no longer fear the others finding out WHO I AM, Moreover it feels like I am immune from the compulsive disorder of trying to live up to the collective version of who I should be.
I feel an inner power that Pluto has been trying for “oh so long” to get me to see. And Chiron has oft given me grief in the drama’s of my life long search for significance – but what you are saying I am reflecting from a truly felt perspective; it is that IT IS ME. I mean I am the only influence that matters. There is this opening (one that is obvious to me) where reality reflects consciousness – so consciousness is the only play.
I will never be better than I am now! I can’t fix me. All of my weaknesses are a part of the beautiful whole! As I am extremely pleased with all of me now – I feel fearless. And I feel and experience the power of this concept daily – at least lately! I desire for this liberation to continue.
Thanks Len
Here is what I so love about Planet Waves; its different perspectives all in alignment! Note what I said in previous posts and what Eric says in this weeks Horoscope for Virgo – of which I am; – Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — Though yours is a mutable sign, subject to frequent changes, you need to guard against rigid emotions. These are most likely to arrive in the form of being self-judgmental. You might respond to that as digging in and claiming your right to say no — which is indeed your cosmic privilege. You might want to claim, at the same time, your right to say yes, and to say maybe. I suggest you guide your choices in a way that keeps your options open rather than narrows them down. The way to do this is to recognize when you’re judging yourself and consciously choose to let that go. The thing about judgment is that it’s connected to guilt, and guilt is the feeling of being convicted without a trial. If you are fair to yourself, you will see your options. If you forgive yourself you will be able to breathe, and choose among them. –
Well that again explains what I am feeling, becoming, being. Planet Waves is a jewel in my life.
Riddle: what is the one thing that all beings (regardless of station) require, desire and strive for, even to the point of compulsiveness – but for which there can never be too much of. What is it that we as human beings are addicted to but can not overdose on?
The expression of this addiction takes many forms but all forms are the same basic fundamental element of attraction.
Answer: Love, unconditional love. Non controlling acceptance.
Love is all we need, love is all we need, love is all we need.
Share it. The more we give away the more there is. It can never run out!
Cowboyjam: It is for me to thank you. You are the jewel, and a rather lustrous one here today. Thank you for sharing the hard-earned and well-practiced nuts and bolts of your practical liberation with such inspiring enthusiasm and conviction. Yes, you are correct – Planet Waves is indeed manifesting as different perspectives in a rather impressive alignment. Part of that comes from the top (Eric), but it is also the subject matter and the sheer quality of the people who not only offer service here, but also those (such as yourself) who find use and inspiration in what we offer. It’s a synergy. Of course, change is the only constant on Earth and in the skies, but so long as you (or anybody) can release attachment, adapt and evolve to yet undiscovered layers of consequence and correlation, the basis for liberation you have established will continue to function. You are so very welcome.
🙂 Happy man I am – Happy thought towards you, Len.
Oh! Happy Birthday Len!
It occurred to me too, Len that here is an instance wherein their could be a measurement of natal Pluto in Virgo as different from progressed Pluto in Leo (natal Pluto is retrograde at 1degree Virgo – and being so close to the beginning of Virgo, it has progressed back into Leo – and interesting situation).
As Nessus (any planet, but we’re onto Nessus here and it’s long form orbit) moves into PI then, it moves from opposing natal Pluto to opposing progressed Pluto – AQ to PI and VI to LE.
There’s a transitional quality to this buck stopping–again, with Chyron in the mix, perhaps healing OLD wounds (past/retro) and the healing then carried into the future. One can hope.
Len, this is very helpful! Thank you so much. I hope you had a wonderful day yesterday.
aWord – Thank you for your input about Chiron’s involvement with Nessus in Pisces. I like the idea of carrying the healing into the future. I hope too! I’m tired of this stuff weighing me down.
Wow. I’d forgotten that Nessus would soon be entering Pisces, and today’s the day! Thanks so much Len for explaining his purpose in these times, especially the symbolism of the crossing of the 3 outer planet paths we know of, Pluto, Uranus and Neptune. And hope it was a happy solar return for you too; Jupiter opposite your Sun for a year sounds pretty good!
You know, transiting Neptune will conjunct the U.S. Nessus (9+ Pisces) this spring and will station retrograde there in June. We should get a better understanding of how Nessus operates on the unconscious level at that time. Will mark my calendar!
As for Venus activating the Chiron sextile Pluto aspect, an aspect that formed a yod with the Full Moon in Leo (which became a Boomerang as she opposed the Sun), I await it with baited breath, anticipating a chain of events that the Full Moon outlined.
be
A late comment here – Len, a HUGE thank-you for the words “…life in a material world is more abour sharing and stewardship than owning”, in reference to the 8th house (in your response to beths). This is so useful to me right now, in a decision I ponder while the area of my 8th (from 29 Cap to 13 Aq) has been hopping with transits. I feel clearer now, though I can’t quite see what next step to take. I await Mercury direct & further aspects.
And a belated happy birthday.