Spiders In The Garden

With last night’s lunation we are officially past the eclipse period, where the Moon is again the Moon and the Sun the Sun, in theory. Coincidentally, the Full Moon occurred conjunct Neptune in Pisces opposite the Sun in middle Virgo. Our intellects up to their elbows in details looked into our emotions and streams of consciousness to find tidal surges of watery hallucination and Dionysian distraction; enchantment, music and pornography flooding into our projects, The tides are now receding and we all look at our drenched and jostled components and begin to formulate a clean up plan. Mars kicked into Virgo yesterday, blowing the referee whistle and beginning the sequence that we had previously only drilled for. We spring into action with urgency, running with scissors toward the globs of tape and paper that were once our notes, hoping to slay the watery leviathan and restore laboratory conditions. Mercury just went direct out of retrograde, and waking up from his slumber with details a la Er, strides toward the gates of Harvest with organization amplifiers and mnemonic memory devices that will more than augment our processes, almost mutating it wildly, as we may go Borg in the metamorphosis and walk out of the chrysalis a bit robotic, as not only the tech, but the ground itself absorbs the surges of the high charges Uranus charges the instruments with, the electricity extending into Hades architecture where the walls lap and flash like nightclub fog: into the clearings and the winds, with Bruegel’s peasants hefting wicker and sacks of cornucopia contents, hidden secrets revealed, seized from our subconscious, retrieved from serpent wing cast shadows, and carried up into the light through screens of fire both promethean and martial, the pulse quickened with jolts, each one kicking a realization loose, and all this blessed by an eminent Lord, tied up into packets, like knowledge in a pill, fed to the laborers who make the work of hauling sodden sacks as subtle as ringing out dew into consecrated basins which will serve to freshen the work.

The first post-eclipse lunation, Mars’ ingress, followed by Mercury’s ingress newly direct into rulership definitely spells out a new era, like the second book of a series: the previous story’s events bear on the current narrative even if we now are being caught up in an all new sequence. To further support this starter pistol fire we find the Moon heading into a fresh revolution of the tropical zodiac on the morning of the 7th, waning yet still swollen strong she slides into Aries, passing into the first Lunar Mansion of Alnath, which receives a very Aries description from Agrippa as well as the Picitrix, where they speak of beginning journeys and magical operations that assure their safety, as well as seeding discord between spouses and allies and causing servants to flee. Their is hidden logic in the often contrasting significances described by traditional astrological sources, although it is evident here that the same cardinal inspiration to move and travel can be directed at a fixed target to make it break up with similar but untimely and ill placed energy of the same inspiration. Mars ruling Virgo can imbue wherever Virgo lands in your chart with a combination of ‘its go time’ movement as well as disruptive activity to what is fixed in that area, so, as you are racing around your life with a hot scalpel or fiery chainsaw, remember to not slash the batons downing your hatches, but be diligent to clear away the brush choking your orchard so that you might find the apples that fall ripe to the floor. In Jyotish, the degrees of this Mansion are found in the Nakshatra Uttara Bhadra which displays the dynamic of kama, or desire, uplifting contradictory forces of hot and cold, personified by Agni and Soma. This is the dark primeval ocean depths where the dragon Ahi-Vritra lurks in reflection of conscious ignorance. These are the darknesses and motivating desires that inspire the actions of the First-Mover at creation, they are newly budding yearnings that create activity out of nothing, the big bangs we experience in selves, whether they are for each of us personally explosions of discs, wands, swords or cups, even if on the surface they appear to be enchanting universes of expanding diamonds, clubs, spades and hearts that beckon us into the casino of karmic entanglement, moving us through almost ulterior forces. Check in with your selves of past and future incarnations, selves of alternate choices, and noble self of higher spheres to come to a committee decision as what is your dharmic destiny before five of the traditional seven planets enter Virgo later in the month.

Luna accomplishes the final degrees of Aries by the 9th where she conjoins Uranus still separating from a trine with Mercury. This is like a lightening strike that illuminates the two characters of Thoth, one as the calendrical inspiration and gatekeeper of the thoughts, and the other as the God of writing and of the papyrus. Clearly the two fastest moving bodies in our solar system have overlapping significances, as they rule over things that change swiftly and constantly, although one lurks in our moods, which normally ebb and flow in sweeps and swathes, as the other goes this way and that, the curious and investigative mind. The two tuning into one harmonized Uranian channel might instigate some acute states of understanding and knowing rather than thinking or hypothesizing, there could be an opportunity for integration of what you think into what you know to be instinctually true. This is the kind of knowing won from experience, and if Uranus is involved, this is specifically the type, the satisfaction of testing the data in experimentation, the knowing it will work this way or that because you’ve tried it out.

Mercury enters Virgo later that night, which makes sense. He walks confidently from the lab where the experiments were performed into the real world where they will be implemented in practice. As Mercury enters Virgo the Moon reaches its disseminating phase: all that could have been harvested from the Full Moon has been had, and now we synthesize with our prizes and ready for reorientation by looking for a path. Four planets including the two luminaries will be in earth signs. The king that views other kingdoms becomes the knight who explores them for bricks and mortar that could stabilize his situation, or for herbal remedies that could be more than medicine but solutions to even the problem on the blackboard, not as an abstraction but an actual situation of the slate and chalk.

Mercury is conjunct Regulus through all this, which we’ve discussed in detail in the past several weeks. We get one more opportunity to hit the big time when Venus strikes the starlit carpet in stilettos between the 19th and 21st, strutting in an altogether different stride than the gait of the Sun, Mars and Mercury before her. This will be our last opportunity to consider the blessings of this star power until the anniversary of the Total Solar eclipse. both the 9th and the 19th are dates to consider for those who might want to broadcast themselves in Hermetic and or Aphroditean costumes. Schedule your TV appearances and glamor shots accordingly.

By the 10th we find both the Sun and Venus in the last degrees of second decans, He in Virgo and She in Leo. Having spent the week prior sustaining and maintaining their zodiacal conditions they begin to direct their attention toward mutation and adaptability byTuesday the 12th when they progress into Virgo and Leo’s third faces respectively as well as come into aspect with Saturn in Sagittarius, the Sun in a square and Venus in a trine.

The Virgo Sun concentrating on the process, imbuing what we do with the transformational importance of the great alchemical work and its orientation of progression from beginning to end, from base metal into gold, switches gears on Tuesday to be not at the pivot point betwixt temporal polarities but to be on the sinking end of the seesaw, driving toward the cold ground into a decan Saturn rules and in a square aspect with Kronos himself. Our thoughts turn to the completion of the process and beyond. Not only is the product complete but the process is over, the last page has been turned; there’s no more story. Yes, gold is achieved in the alchemical work, but at that point the entropy and corruption of the manifest world is banished, in this context the ascension of spirit means cessation of earthly existence. Nevertheless, the end game must be played, as the process rides upon chronological wheels and does not spin in stasis; this is Kronos’ rule, and the grim one standing with the hourglass turned and sifting at the gateway to the decan he rules squaring off to our vision and intellects, pronouncing the emergence of deadlines from the offices of our rulers and lords and are tacked in plain sight on public bulletin boards. Meanwhile, Venus performs dramatic routines that glorify her own identity, we stride onto the stage and play an idealized version of ourselves, dancing and singing if necessary, that is if ratings demand it, letting our personae play electric light and sound out of our warmest of amps, throwing roses into the audience, we expect tenfold back at our feet when the refrain climaxes and our identity is applauded, we curtsy and catalyze a standing ovation. Hopefully, if all goes well, at least, that is what our inner desires and senses of bond and beauty are inclined to do in the second face of Leo. As she falls toward the third face the plays program follows on themes of bravery and courage, the identity that survives and thrives against adversity is exemplified and it is in such solidarity that forms of love are sought, and in such an aesthetic matrix that art is appreciated. As Venus enters Leo’s third decan we get goosebumps reading that inspiring passage or upon hearing the anthemic swan song that petitions us to take up the quest ourselves and never give up, sounding like flags fluttering and looking like the brawny beneath rocket scarred skies in portraiture, the third decan of Leo’s Venus whispers brave oaths rather than sweet nothings, albeit romantically just the same. Her trine with Saturn as she crosses into this face, whereas she normally prefers to not aspect him at all, could serve to imbue such oaths with truth and steadfast resolve, although, we might know from experience, that truth and steadfastness is often not an aphrodisiac except in the most intimate of partnerships, as the sexual is often the court of fantasy. Perhaps this is the romance of old hollywood and dime store novel covers, the steamy liaison fed on pressure and ordeal. We know of other forms this might take, ranging from BDSNM to Godard’s flirtatious revolutionary youths of the 60’s. Quite a wide spectrum, yet, I pledge its center, something like Marlene Dietrich’s active protest of Third Reich Germany in singing for the Allied infantry on the front lines, Saturn’s sapper’s and fox hole fences providing adequate barb wire around the beating heart that thumps and swoons in bicep tattoos.

The Moon opposes Saturn on the following morning at 4 am on Wednesday the 13th; we might wake with a feeling reflecting what whimsical curiosity can be cast aside to lighten the load on our resolve to drive inspiration toward truthful targets. The following day Venus steps onto the North Node, and under the absent shadow of Rahu feels the Dragons breath against her neck like gravity pulling flowers to the ground. There might be an abstract painting, maybe something inspirational to or inspired by the Futurists, that best captures the subconscious specter haunting this circle, as if a doppelganger called in a seance, or rendering your shadow in charcoal as it recedes into your feet. Since we are on the other side of the Lunation, this place means less or at least rings with less resonance, but in our artistic faculties we might still be able to pull out a subconscious sketch and stand back to ask ourselves, “Do you recognize this man?” Simultaneously the Moon in rulership sextiles Mercury in rulership conjunct Mars. The dead can inform our work. Our ancestors can inform our work. Our intuition can inform our work. Our bodies can inform our work. Just ask Thoth. The Mercury-Mars pair ride Virgo’s assembly line conveyor belt to conjunction on Saturday the 16th, and by Mercury’s night are like Hermanubis panting in the dark under a canopy of stars, the Moon a slender sickle, moaning as she crosses the Sun’s sign, cats yowling and owls hooting.

This is the Hermanubis that can construct the oracular offering feast; capable of bringing in the tables and decanters, the platters and the utensils, all the trappings as well as the wine, food and the fixings so that the Gods and Honored Dead may eat and drink. This happens on the ground in our own lives (hopefully) as much as it may occur in the pool of ink in a child’s hand. As the Moon spirals toward dissolve into black newness, reflection and reception swallowed by the creative void, consider what must be done outside your castle of sigils, what must be wrangled with your hands in accordance with your spells. Draw webs of parallel, like a concordance that bridges the synapse and serendipity, the simulacra and the sequence it impersonates, and let this period of Virgo sorting, cleaning, organizing, researching, computing, adjusting, augmenting, alphabetizing, fine tuning, fabricating, and fixing lay the construction of your web cross the corners of the world’s window so that you are sure to catch the prey you most prize as Summer falls to Autumn and all race to load their larders.