Planet Weather for the Week of October 11, 2009

NewsBits: Obama Honored with Nobel Peace Prize! President Obama said he was as surprised as anyone about being honored as a Nobel Prize winner. By the same token, astrologers know that President Obama is experiencing a Jupiter return that takes place once every 12 years. Currently, Jupiter is traveling through the sign Aquarius, the same placement as Obama’s birth Jupiter. This cycle happens to all of us each 12 years, beginning with age 12. It is a cycle of expansion, opportunity, new learning, philosophical advancements, and renewing one’s aspirations for an enhanced and positive life-style. One tends to feel capable to achieve great things during a Jupiter return, and often takes on too many projects. Not that these grand and glorious Jupiterian things always happen, because as with everything in one’s chart, there are counterpoints and other interlocking planetary conditions taking place simultaneously that may modify one influence against another’s.

In the case of Barack Obama, the Jupiter return cycle was certainly part of his election. Recently he was  under the influence of a more demanding and negative cycle that placed him under great criticism and clearly shows that we must evaluate all the cycles that are currently active in a person’s chart/life.

The Nobel comes to him just days before the Jupiter cycle we’ve been discussing makes an important Station Direct – that is, moving forward again after being retrograde since 6/15/09. Its station degree is 17 Aquarius within a degree of Obama’s Ascendant degree, 18 Aquarius. In astrology, numbers like this, close contacts, speak loudly and produce results. The Jupiter return always gives something, although not always in the ways we wish or anticipate, or even in the ways we can imagine. Congratulations, Barack Obama, for opening up a dialogue with the international community (the likes of which has not been heard either for a very long time, or ever), to both envision things differently and to do business in a more enlightened way. The old order always strongly resists the new perspective.

SkyWatch: Moon phase of the week: 10/11 -- The Moon enters Her last (aka Third) Quarter phase at 4:56 AM EDT, at 18 degrees of Cancer, the sign She rules. Moon phases in October starting with last week's (late) Harvest Moon line up neatly seven days apart, so that they all occur at the start of the week. We get to start every week this month on a new Moon phase! Skywatching events of the week: 10/11 -- The Waning Moon makes a close pass by Mars in the evening when both are well below the horizon, but the pair will rise still fairly close together several hours before dawn the next morning. This close pass is actually an occultation (the Moon passes directly in front of Mars) as witnessed from the Indian Ocean.

10/13 -- Venus and Saturn have been rising together for the past several days, and on this date, their point of closest approach (as Venus passes within half a degree of Saturn) for viewers on the US East Coast occurs very close to the time of their rising, about an hour before sunrise. (Astrologically, this is considered a “conjunction” between the two, as they briefly share the same celestial longitude.) They will remain close together in the early morning sky for the rest of the week, with Venus slightly below Saturn and slowly widening the gap in the direction of the Sun. Space news of the week: Well, we finally did it! Human beings bombed the Moon. This past week, NASA deliberately crashed two space probes into a region near the lunar South Pole, both traveling considerably faster than the proverbial "speeding bullet" and knocking up plumes of lunar material for study. Actually, this is not the first time that space agencies of various countries have deliberately crashed spacecraft into the Moon, both for seismic research and, this time, in hopes of detecting frozen water for use by a future Moon base. Go out! Look up!

Knowing when VOC Moons occur is key to planning your successful week!

                                                                      

The Void-of-course (VOC) Moon is a kind of limbo. As it reaches the end of a sign, the Moon makes no major aspect to another planet before it enters the next sign. VOC is best for less outcome-oriented activity, since VOC often means detours, distractions, drifting, or delays. If you want specific outcomes, or if timeliness is critical, don’t use a VOC Moon time. VOC is best for processing, imagining, creating, and open-ended activities, like parties, research, or cleaning your desk/closet for instance! It is said that when a new action is initiated during VOC, “nothing will come of it,” or energies go in unplanned directions, which may not necessarily be negative.

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Week of 10/11/09 – Sunday, Tuesday, and Friday are the most active energetically and potentially very productive days – more Moon or planetary aspects for engagement with others or projects, and/or producing results. On 10/11/09, the Moon is VOC/Cancer from 9:37PM to 1:02AM EDT (next day!) – On 10/13/09, the Moon is VOC/Leo from 5:21PM to 3:45AM EDT (next day!) – On 10/16/09, the Moon is VOC/Virgo from 6:18AM to 6:29AM EDT.

 

Planet Patterns & Cosmic Headlines for the next few weeks:

 

Summary: Lots of planetary changes this week makes for heightened energy all around. So stay alert!

 

Jupiter in fixed, air sign Aquarius makes a Station Direct @ 17deg. on 10/13/09. Jupiter Direct is probably the biggest change this week. It now means that Jupiter moves swiftly and without further hesitation through to the end of the sign. Jupiter enters Pisces on 1/19/10. Jupiter’s energy is big, often brash and loose-tongued, but positive and direct. The tendency to make something out of nothing works on all levels, and Jupiter exaggerates and enlarges the prevailing issues. Some huge event is likely to present itself.

 

Venus in mutable, earth Virgo conjunct (0deg.) Saturn/Virgo @ 28deg. on 10/13/09. Venus, having to do with love, relationships, values, and valuables, fairness, cooperationand our overall engagement with others, comes to a pressure and decision point, meeting time-lord Saturn. This could be a relational crisis pertaining to an imbalance, or simply the push to be firm and committed about something. In a sense, this is a foreshadowing of Saturn’s entry into Libra late this month and the need to rebalance and recommit ourselves to what we’ve deemed as top priorities. Venus changes signs shortly after this contact.

 

Venus enters cardinal, air Libra on 10/14/09, until 11/7/09. Venus is blissed out in one of its own home signs (the other is Taurus). As with anything in Libra, the tone is about harmony, cooperation, and negotiating fairness in all situations. This Venus will fight for equality and equanimity. [The current “gay rights” issue could be related to this upcoming placement. Obama gave a major speech on this in the last few days, in which he said he would work to eliminate the military’s so-called “don’t ask, don’t tell” (DADT) policy. This is almost as “big” a story as his Nobel. Ed.] Because of the way the planets are positioned in the sky, Venus/Libra receives quite a challenge almost immediately, the next day, when it makes a square (hard angle) to Pluto in Capricorn. Deeper issues political and/or psychological are forced to be faced and processed.

 

*Mercury Passes its “shadow point” @ 6 Libra on 10/14/09 (the degree at which it went retrograde on 9/7/09) and this completes the full current Mercury Retrograde cycle.  Mercury Turned Stationary Direct on 9/29/09 @ 21 Virgo. Mercury re-entered the previous sign, Virgo on 9/17/09. We have completed the third full Mercury retrograde of 2009. The next one begins on 12/26/09, and ends in January 2010.

 

**Mars enters fixed, fire Leo on 10/16/09 until 6/8/10! Mars turns Retrograde in this sign on 12/20/09. We’re in for a looong bout (7.5 months) of fiery activity and probably some ego-mania too. This Mars position can act impulsively and out of wounded ego or pride. Because it’s a fixed sign, it registers its energy strongly. I call Mars in Leo, the “Superman Mars”, a strong, masculine muscle-flexing influence. Its positive qualities are those of courage, nobility, great-heartedness and creative life processes. However, on the political side, this may spell a dangerous time for global peace with such fiery energy prone to willful and stubborn, unyielding stances. Dissonant voices will bellow loudly with the attendant self-righteous chest-thumping.

 

Currently Active Paradigm-Shift Patterns:

 

Saturn in mutable, earth Virgo opposite (180 deg. angle) Uranus in mutable, water Pisces, Part 3 of 5 was exact on 9/15/09 @ 24degrees. This lengthy (background cultural shift) cycle began on 11/4/08. Technically, it ends in July 2010. This powerful five-part confrontation between the past (Saturn) and the future (Uranus) is disintegrative, after tension and struggle between the old pattern and the new consciousness that wants to arise. As you’ve noted in the news and surely also in your own lives, it’s not an easy transition. It is a powerfully challenging series of cosmic combinations. The sign pair, Virgo/Pisces, I call the functional axis – meaning that if this place in the chart (yours or a country’s) has a problem, the whole system has a problem. Virgo/Pisces is the health of the body and soul – one’s work and the meaning (or not) attached to your work or career. Or, put another way, this pairing symbolizes the mundane and the spiritual (soul) aspects of life. These two parts must find a balance or else there is stress. The most obvious example in the news is the overhaul of US healthcare. It’s also about the accumulation of little things, the endless irritations that pile up and eventually break the smooth functioning of a system. Part Two of this combination took place on 2/5/09 @ 20 deg. The first four oppositions between these two planets take place in the signs Virgo/Pisces, and the last one in the sign pair Aries/Libra. Part 4 is due on 4/27/10.

 

*Jupiter in fixed air Aquarius conjoined (0deg.) Neptune/Aquarius for the second time @ 26 deg. on 7/10/09. Jupiter and Neptune are still in the throes of their second conjunction – still hovering very close to each other by degree, and still working in the background of social consciousness. The first of three conjunctions (meeting in the same sign and at the same degree) between these two planets took place on 5/27/09, and the third and last takes place on 12/21/09. As noted in previous issues of PW, it is rare (and important) to have these two planets that meet by conjunction about every 12 years, make this aspect three separate times in their single cycle. The last triple occurrence of this kind was in 1919-1920, marking the end of World War I. The next time will be in 2047 –2048! This conjunction is meant to bring hope and to inspire us to a wider understanding of what the meaning is of the lives we have lived and wish to continue to live. It also speaks to false hopes and pet illusions that we must understand with greater internal or soul wisdom. Expect some amazing synchronicity to appear in your life. Be aware of all meetings with others, events and involvements, and what these may evoke in you, and if these meetings and events support the purpose and/or direction and overall dream or purpose you hold for your life.