Hornets, a cardigan, and the slow crawl toward Auckland
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This week’s square between Mars and Uranus (Sep. 18, 4:00 pm) is the thrilling conclusion to a serial that began on May 16, one day after Uranus shifted into Taurus. If there was any doubt that Uranus changing signs would shake things up, Mars immediately put them to rest by kicking Uranus, hard. Now, you can’t poke a hornet’s nest and expect to get away without a few stings; but Mars in Aquarius can’t seem to help himself, and by the time Mars repeated the aspect while retrograde (August 1), those hornets had gotten good and mad. By then, it was clear that major changes would come, like them or not, and that Uranus in Taurus was proving to be more of a mad cow than a gentle Holstein.
This week’s final square brings one last smack at the hornet-filled piñata that is Uranus in Taurus. Like Mars, we just can’t seem to leave well enough alone. But at the end of it all, the hornets will all have been released, and hopefully will have flown off to milder climes, leaving a fresh, new landscape—one that, hopefully, offers invigoration rather than stings.
“Order is what exists before you start arranging things.”
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Catching up with ourselves
You’ll find us looking at Mercury quite a lot in these weekly columns, because like any bird or butterfly, he gets around. He’s moving particularly fast just now, en route to a superior conjunction with the Sun (Sep. 20, 6:52 pm). This is the part of Mercury’s cycle, post retrograde, when perceptions catch up with the life we’re actually living. The feeling of racing to catch up—as in a dream of running, running, and never getting anywhere—subsides for awhile. We’re moving forward. We’re putting together information and concepts and producing little “news segments” from them, eager to share our insights with the world. Mercury will now race past the Sun, eager and curious as a child running ahead of its parents; when it retrogrades again (Nov. 16), the child will return with messages from the not-too-distant future for our examination and incorporation.
Mercury enters Libra, the sign of fairness, collaboration, and judgment, on the International Day of Peace (Sep. 21, 8:40 pm). After a few brilliant, incisive, but somewhat scratchy weeks in Virgo, Mercury in Libra finds itself in more judicious and tranquil territory. “Tell me what you think,” you might find yourself saying, or, “What do you think I should do?” It’s not Mercury’s most decisive sign, but a helpful one for exploring all the angles and connecting with other points of view—the prerequisite to peace and atonement.
If Libra has a flaw (which I’m not prepared to concede), it’s probably indecisiveness. But Mercury’s square to Saturn (Sep. 23, 9:46 am) preempts dithering with a bracing dose of reality, and its trine to Mars (Sep. 23, 6:30 pm) delineates the path to right action. So, have confidence. If you’ve listened carefully and judged realistically, your course of action will be the right one.
“The truth is that judgment and fear will never stop, but they don’t actually do anything.” ― The Flinch
Sweater weather
The Sun’s ingress into Libra (Sep. 22, 6:55 pm) marks the Autumn Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere and Vernal Equinox in the Southern Hemisphere. But of course, by the arrival of the equinox, the season has already been making itself felt for at least a month. Here in Southern California, after a witheringly hot and uncomfortably humid summer, we had a few days last week when I actually had to wear a sweater on my morning walk! Nothing says autumn quite like a cardigan.
Mundane astrologers examine the charts for the four seasonal ingresses (the Solstices and Equinoxes) with great care. The Libra ingress is always a bit like a Last Quarter Moon, as we approach the final lap of the calendar year and grow reflective, maybe a little nostalgic. And this year’s ingress charts, beginning with the Capricorn ingress in late December, have all featured the Sun tangling with Saturn in early degrees of Capricorn. This one features a Sun/Saturn square, one of the very hardest aspects in the Sun’s annual journey and one that is a bit like giving birth–you’re tired, you may not feel you have that final push in you, but if you don’t do it, nothing can be born.
“Autumn is the hardest season. The leaves are all falling, and they’re falling like they’re falling in love with the ground.”
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Sometimes, quitting simply isn’t an option. For instance, in November, we’ll make the long flight from San Diego to Auckland. By about hour nine of this 12-hour flight, you are so very, very done with your little 32-inch section of the plane. Your nasal passages are dry, everything is sore, and you’re tired but can’t sleep. Every cell aches to touch down on terra firma. But having undertaken the journey, you have no choice but to see it through to the end. So you turn on the plane’s little flight tracker video and obsessively watch your slow crawl toward Auckland.
Friends, it’s been a bumpy year. We’re closing in on our final destination. But we’re not there yet. The road ahead involves information gathering, diplomacy, more hours in a cramped seat, and a nest filled with some pretty pissed-off hornets. So examine all the angles. Stock up on salve, stay hydrated, and pack a sweater.
“We should not judge people by their peak of excellence; but by the distance they have traveled from the point where they started.”
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© 2018 April Elliott Kent
