Now that it is September, I am guessing that a number of you out there are waking and possibly leaving the house in the dark…partly because your schedule has changed and partly because the sun is rising later and later each day.
If you’re observant, you’ve noticed Venus shining brightly in the eastern sky. If you’re like me, you’ve looked for her. And maybe you’ve even tried to catch a glimpse of Mars.
Mars currently rises with Venus. They are at the same height. If you hold out your hand at arms length, Mars can be found about a palm’s width to the left of Venus. These past two mornings, I have been able to find Mars with little effort.
Mars and Venus are going to hover near each other for a while longer. Venus’ retrograde time comes to an end in three days. After she stations direct, she’ll creep forward slowly…eventually catching back up to Mars. After that, Mars will continue to climb in the morning sky (viewed one day to the next) while Venus will more or less hold steady.
In my last post, I talked about the Virgo-Pisces opposition. We are not done with the likes of that…not even close. Next up is the exact opposition between Jupiter and Neptune (on September 16th).
Jupiter is the classic ruler of Pisces; Neptune is the modern ruler. As astronomical orbs, they are both massive gas giants.
From our perspective, earth is a big place. The ocean reminds us of this. Have you ever waded in the sea with your eyes just above sea level? Looking out, you see nothing but water and waves to the seeming end of the earth.
Taking this experience further, consider being out in the middle of the sea, where no coastlines are visible. Now the earth not only looks vast, but eerily quiet as well. Given our propensity to take cruises, I’m sure many of you have had the opportunity to witness this.
Bodies of water easily induce daydreaming. That’s partly why we seek them out, yes?
For one year, Jupiter will crawl through Virgo. Neptune is not due to swim out of Pisces for another decade. So the opposition between these giants is exact soon, but not likely to completely fade for a while.
Interestingly, life has given me an experience I can relate to this. Back in January, I was involved in an accident. I finally got my truck in for repairs. Just this week, I picked up a rental car. Yesterday, as I drove downtown, I found myself contemplating a parallel life. Not a literal one, but an imaginary one: a life where I drive a car (instead of a truck) and one where I work downtown.
The very different physical vehicle (Jupiter in Virgo) allowed this fantasy (Neptune in Pisces) to feel more real.
Soon, I’ll likely get used to the car and it will stop feeling so different, but for now, it is fun to go along with the sensation. “What would that life be like?” “How would it cause me to see things differently?”
Virgo is the last month of summer, but like all mutable signs, it begins the transition into the next season. It already feels like fall despite the summer temperatures. That’s the gift of mutability: to assist, inspire, and facilitate change.
By the end of September, three of our four largest planets will be in mutable signs: Jupiter in Virgo, Saturn in Sagittarius, and Neptune in Pisces. Uranus, the last of them, and Pluto, the last of the outer planets, both sit in cardinal signs, which don’t simply inspire change, but ignite it.
And get this: on October 9th, when Venus ingresses Virgo, not a single planet will sit in a fixed sign:
This hasn’t happened in a while…maybe even in a long while. [I believe the last time this happened was June 2012, before Saturn entered Scorpio and when Venus was retrograde in Gemini.] Are big changes in the offing? Who knows! I guess we’ll find out soon enough, eh?
I, for one, am looking forward to some practical (Virgo) and beneficial (Jupiter) changes (mutable signs) that are both real (Saturn) and closer to my dreams (Neptune)…
By the way, on 8/18 in my post entitled Design and Implementation I wrote this:
Sagittarius is known for its excess. Whether it’s preaching or partying, it’s all in. Saturn will temper that tendency. If you preach holier than thou, but your own nose is not clean, Saturn’s going to send you home to wipe your face.
It didn’t take long for examples of that to show up in the news, eh?
A Fool's Inclination 