Issue 4, April 2007

April and May are busy months for us, with a number of fairs around the country.  These are a great way for us to spread the word on the power of astrology as well as making many new friends.  A special welcome to those of you who've signed up for this newsletter at recent shows!

This month we have three interesting articles for you.  We start with a look at Pluto – Prince of Darkness, which leads nicely (if Pluto can be called nice!) into our regular feature on the upcoming Full and New Moons with the May Full Moon in Pluto's Scorpio realm.  Finally, for new astrologers, our series of lessons on basic astrology continues with an introduction to aspects.

Enjoy!
Ingrid and Barry.

Pluto – Prince of Darkness

“ Are you willing to be sponged out, erased, cancelled, made nothing?
Dipped into oblivion?
If not, you will never really change. ”
D. H. Lawrence. 

Dark, enigmatic Pluto has been ignominiously demoted, along with Ceres and Eris, to a “dwarf planet” status.  Yet to most astrologers, Pluto, with its highly elliptical orbit that brings it in from the icy outer regions of our solar system, is a potent archetype for change and transformation, personally and for the Collective. 

An encounter with the Pluto archetype brings chaos, and the more we resist or try to exert control, the greater the primal force chaos that breaks down the door.  There is something ruthless and darkly primitive about Pluto energy, and although we talk about “change and transformation” these are concepts that roll off the astrologer’s tongue glibly, with ease, until as Marion Woodman says:
“You are going to walk that path
Whether you like it or not.
You can go like a squealing pig
To slaughter,
Or you can walk with as much dignity as you can muster”. 

Change.  Transformation.  These are text book concepts until the earth opens up for you personally.  What an encounter with Pluto really means is a silent scream, a total eclipse, a sense of throwing oneself into an abyss, a journey into The Heart of Darkness.  We fear darkness today, huddled in artificially lit cities that stain the night skies and cast long shadows.   

Our ancestors encountered Pluto in their intimacy with death and dying; they endured painful transformation in political intrigue, disease, poverty and extreme physical hardship.   In what we label as third world countries, Pluto is alive and well in the AIDS death rattle, the maniacal extremes of war and torture. Witch hunts and child abuse, family murders and rape of the innocents.

First world countries have gone soft.   In Western society today, change and transformation often refer to extreme make-overs or the hardship of starring in Reality TV on a remote tropical island.  We dread the transformation of death, disease, old age, depression, mental illness; and we medicate our “dark nights of the soul”.  Our perceptions of the dark are filled with fear and panic and confusion – we feel powerless and trapped in the chaotic, formless void of non-knowing.   We writhe and suffer a sense of undefined terror.  

Yet if we can surrender to the Mystery, the Pluto archetype brings the dark detritus of outgrown consciousness to the surface so that we can seed new awareness.  Experiencing Pluto as alchemy and an opportunity to create gold from putrefying garbage is deeply transformative and vivifying.
 
Enduring chemotherapy and radiation, the death of someone we love, the trauma of a divorce, financial ruin, the obsessive Fatal Attraction Love Affair that strips us bare and brings chaos to our family structure.  Pluto transits take us down into the Abyss of the Underworld where we must hang, like Innana, from the meat hook and putrefy. For most of us who have experienced a Pluto transit to a personal planet, we know the fermentation process takes a long time.  If we surrender and co-operate, after the stripping away, laying bare the bones, we can begin to rebuild our Skeleton-Self, painfully, bone by bone.  But, if we resist or project the call of Pluto and foolishly refuse to be ferried by Charon down into the Underworld, the price we might pay will be devastating.

Pluto Transits – Rites of Passage

Pluto transits have both a collective and a personal effect, and how we experience a Pluto rite of passage in our lives very much depends on our world view, our age, our level of self awareness, and the society in which we are live.  Liz Greene refers to Pluto as our family fate, and this is where we are destined to meet our power struggles, our obsessions, paranoia, our trauma, alienation, loss, death and birth.  Experiencing loss of death, a relationship, a lifestyle, or a career, suffering the pain of dis-ease can be times in our life journey where we need to be introspective, contemplative. This is a time for purifying and releasing so that something new can unfold.

Collectively, Pluto spends differing lengths of time in each sign, and certain signs, like Scorpio seem better suited to Pluto’s effect. Pluto lingered for about 30 years in Aries, Taurus and Gemini, 25 years in Cancer, 19 years in Leo, 14 years in Virgo and Libra and only 12 years in Scorpio.  Symbolically Pluto indicates where polluted energies must be purged and purified and brings shadow into the light of consciousness globally.

In January 2008, Pluto ingresses into Capricorn after its purging, purifying thirteen years sojourn in Sagittarius.  The political, social and religious ramifications of this transit which began in January 1995 will be even more clearly seen in retrospect, as the aftershock of the Pluto fallout brings inexorable change to old outworn structures of polluted Church and legal systems. Sagittarius embodies forward movement religion, ethics, and as Pluto moved through this sign subversively all that was rotten was brought to the surface – paedophiles in the pulpit, religious fanaticism, suicide bombings, intolerance and bigotry.

In Capricorn, Pluto will initiate us all in a way yet to be experienced and will most certainly bring a descent into the garbage can of governments and corporations with new impetus for change which will take us all to 2022, which, no doubt will bring Plutonic endings and regeneration world wide. 

Those of us who come into this incarnation with Pluto in aspect to a personal planet will have encountered the Power of Pluto from birth as the undertow of our lives, an archetype that is ruthless, cathartic, obsessive, dangerous, compulsive, and ultimately creative. When we embrace Pluto as the Initiator into the realm of the Unconscious, this archetype has great richness and depth, but if the archetype collides with our conditioning as something to be aggressively wrestled with, it will be a painful surrender.  This coming month, these Plutonic energies may well surface as the Moon moved through Scorpio.

Moon Magic

“Every breath you take
Every move you make
Every bond you break
Every step you take
I’ll be watching you

Every single day
Every word you say
Every game you play
Every night you stay
I’ll be watching you  ”
Sting – The Police.

Full Moon in Scorpio

Fertility, sexuality, dying of the old and rebirth are central themes this merry month of May.  These most fundamental life-force energies are amplified at the time of the full Moon, ripe in the sign of erotic mystical Scorpio ruled by Pluto.

The New, Full  and Dark phases of  the lunar cycle mirror the cycle of creation, preservation, and destruction as seen in the beginnings, middles and endings in all of our lives.

The witchy Scorpio Full Moon on Wednesday, May 2^nd is preceded by Beltane, “The Shining Fire” on May 1^st, which marks the first day of the summer in the Northern hemisphere.  This is one of the four major Celtic Sabbats along with Lammas, Samhain and Imbolc.  It is a festival that glorifies fertility, passion, and the flowering of new life, manifested in the form of lusty fire goddesses like Rhiannon, Pele, Hestia and Brighid.

Beltane is a celebration of passion, the sexual energy that creates new life. For thousands of years this festival was a time of bawdy revelry, and ribald ritual.  On the first day in May, people danced clockwise around the maypole, calling in fertility and good fortune. Bright ribbons were removed and kept in a safe place to be burnt in the Beltane fires of the following year, a ritual that represented the dying of the old to give birth to the new.

Death, rebirth and passion are Scorpionic motifs too, and for Scorpio, erotic love may be an intense experience, not merely a physical release – “la petite mort” – the ultimate surrender, the ecstatic merging with the Beloved.  Beltane is a celebration of sex.  Sexuality for someone who is strongly Scorpio usually has an erotic undercurrent.  The sexual act is soul nakedness deep and vulnerable, frightening too.  Remember, this powerful lunar energy can expose our own darkness.

The shadow side of Scorpio’s passion can be a rigid need for control – a “my way or no way” kind of fanaticism and mistrust that makes Othello look like Forest Gump.  Scorpio is a sign of insight and great power – for good and for ill – but its downside need to do it “my Wway” can thwart enduring love, and will ravage, like a worm, the velvet red rose of relationship with seething contortions and malicious  paranoia. The cold chill of the death rattle, when love dies and feelings are no longer engaged, is the dark side of this Scorpio Moon, and our learning lies in reaching deep into our hearts for the grace of compassion, so that negative emotions may burn away on the bright fires of Beltane, and be reborn as love and enduring commitment at the time of the New Taurus Moon.

The Scorpio Moon this month brings in a greater level of awareness, a deeper connection to instinctual forces, and at Full Moon time there is  an intensity and otherworldly quality to the heavens.  Then, Scorpio energy symbolizes the culminative process we all experience on the road to self-knowledge. We are called to confront our own need for drama in core scenes of our life scripts. Scorpio energy intensifies our need to go within, and look at events in our lives in a way that we are able to see a helicopter view of things and take responsibility for co-creating our experiences.

New Moon in Taurus

The New Moon in Taurus on Wednesday May 16^th  brings us back to the stuff of matter – a pragmatic earthy energy to seed new projects, set new intentions, bring some wholesome stability into our lives after swimming in the volatile Scorpionic undertow.   Steady Taurus energy is a blessing and relief after the manipulative turbulence of Scorpio.  This New Moon brings in a sense of physical security, a calm steadiness; a time to focus on material values and renewed commitment to what we hold dear in our lives.

We can use this New Moon time to focus on what we value – money, steady relationships, beautifying our homes, planting our gardens, and loving our bodies.  Now is a  good time to do some household accounts, re-assess the budget and allocate some money towards a little  sensual  pampering – Taurus energy is about elegance and la dolce vita.  So dab on your favourite fragrance, fill the vases with fresh flowers, pack a picnic with succulent deli food, and a couple of bottles of great wine… relax and indulge in sweet sensual indolence, and relish the sunshine with someone you love.

Astrology Primer

First and foremost, apologies!  In order to talk about aspects, I’ve had to remove Marilyn’s beautiful photograph from the centre of the horoscope and replace her with the lines and symbols that represent the aspects between the planets.

But, what are aspects?  We’ll deal with them in three parts.  First, we’ll look at the horoscope and see that aspects are geometrical relationships between two planets.  Second, we’ll examine how these relationships give rise to interactions between the energies represented by these planets. Third, we’ll show how these aspects give us some further insights into Marilyn’s character.

The geometry of aspects

Two planets are in aspect when they are in an “interesting” geometrical relationship to one another.  “Interesting” means different things to different astrologers and in different situations, but here we’re going to deal only with some of the more common relationships, which are multiples of 30 degrees.

Two planets are in conjunction when they stand beside one another in the chart – or zero degrees apart.  In Marilyn’s case, the Sun and Mercury are conjunct, as are the Moon and Jupiter, Mars and Uranus, as well as Venus and Chiron.  Those of you with strong Virgoan tendencies will immediately point out that none of these pairs are exactly zero degrees apart.  And you are right.  All aspects are allowed a certain amount of leeway, up to 8-10° in some cases, within which they are said to be in orb.  Of course, the closer to exact that any aspect is, the more important it becomes; but once the aspect is in orb, we can expect it will have some influence.

Two planets that are 180° apart are in opposition.  For Marilyn, Neptune opposes both the Moon and Jupiter.  At 90° apart, planets are said to be square to one another; so, the Moon squares Saturn and Saturn squares Neptune. 

These two aspects are related to one another because they spring from a repeated halving of the 360° of the circle:  360 / 2 = 180 (opposition); 180 / 2 = 90 (square).  These aspects are called hard or challenging for reasons we’ll see in the next section.

A second important set of aspects, called soft or flowing, arise from the division of the circle first by three followed by halving:  360 / 3 = 120 (trine);  120 / 2 = 60 (sextile).  Marilyn’s chart contains a trine between Mars and Saturn and a sextile between Jupiter and Venus.

There are a number of other aspects in these sets as well as in other categories that astrologers often take into account.  Some of these do occur in Marilyn’s as well, although I’ve left them out of the chart for clarity.  However, for the purposes of this primer, we’ve covered the most important ones.

Aspects as energy combinations

The lines that link aspected planets together (and the invisible lines in conjunctions!) denote that the energies the two planets represent interact with one another in the chart.  When looking at these interactions, it is very useful to divide the planetary energies into two groups: the inner or personal planets (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus and Mars) and the social / outer planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Chiron, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto).  Outer planets’ energies affect the expression of personal planets far more than in the opposite direction and tend to be key influences in the horoscope. Two personal planets in aspect have a more balanced interaction with one another and can be important in the chart.  Outer to outer planet aspects are the least conspicuous in the chart.

A conjunction represents a merging of the two planetary energies into a single force acting in the chart.  How well two energies merge depends on how compatible the two energies are in the first place.  Mars and Uranus, for example, bring together two very similar energies – masculine, impulsive and assertive – and so reinforce one another.  On the other hand, Venus – the energy of relating and valuing – and Chiron – the wounded healer – do not blend very easily.  In line with the explanation in the previous paragraph, we would say that Uranus adds its disruptive and unconventional energy to Marilyn’s assertive (Mars) nature; and Chiron brings feeling of wounding to Marilyn’s relating (Venus) energy.  We’ll delve a bit deeper into the conjunctions involving Marilyn’s Sun and Moon next month.

The challenging aspects, as the name implies, show that the two planetary energies involved work against one another, irrespective of the natures of the individual planets.  In an opposition, the two energies pull in opposite directions and raise issues of balance and perspective for each other.  Usually, one of these energies (the outer planet in an outer / personal opposition) is perceived to be external to the person challenging the other.  The Moon / Neptune opposition in Marilyn’s chart, for example, shows that these two feminine, merging energies have very different ways of expressing.  In this case, Marilyn’s emotional, feeling nature is challenged by the ethereal, dissolving nature of Neptune, which pulls her away from her inner mothering self.  Oppositions call us to find a balance between the two forces involved; to see both energies as part of ourselves and to gain perspective on our divergent nature.

Squares represent energies that rub against one another, constantly challenging each other in an internal battle for attention.  Squares can never truly be resolved; but living with them consciously gives the opportunity for inner growth.  In Marilyn’s chart, the Moon square Saturn shows an inner struggle between her emotional, feeling nature and issues of authority and boundaries.  Challenging aspects from Saturn to any personal planet invariably raise issues of self-worth and/or responsibility or duty.

The flowing aspects – trine and sextile – also act as their name implies: they represent easy combinations of the planetary energies involved, no matter how different those individual energies may be.  Trines represent gifts or talents that are available to us throughout our lives.  In comparison to the hard aspects above, trines do not require us to do anything about them.  So, while they may be enjoyable, they are also quite lazy, and often do not impinge much on our consciousness even though they are always active.  The problem is that, because they are so easy, we tend either to under-utilise them or to take them for granted.  Marilyn’s Mars trine Saturn combines the ability to be assertive with hard work and purposeful action.  From her successful climb to fame, Marilyn certainly used this gift early in her career, but eventually it seems to have become habitual and thus of less value to her.

Sextiles represent opportunities to create a flowing interaction between the planets involved.  However, these opportunities have to be consciously taken, or the energy will not be activated.  Marilyn’s Jupiter sextile Venus represents grace and harmony in abundance, as well as good social skills and inner balance.  Marilyn certainly did activate some of the energy of this aspect, but it seems she didn’t achieve a great deal of inner peace.

Marilyn’s key aspects

As we’ve explored the geometrical and energy sides of aspects, I’ve pointed out where they appear in Marilyn’s chart.  I’ve also given some idea of which aspects are likely to be more important in her life.  However, it’s also clear from the chart that some planets participate in multiple aspects, while others are quite solitary in the horoscope.  Sorting all this out is the topic for next month.

But as a teaser for now, take a look at the Sun and Moon in Marilyn’s chart.  How many and what type of aspects does each have?  What planetary energies influence them?  Based on that, how would you describe Marilyn’s emotional space (her Moon)?  What could you say about her sense of identity (her Sun)?

Next month:  Aspects in operation.