I Wish I Could Tell You Exactly What's Going On

5.2.05

It's not some highly classified astrological secret, the details of which I'm bound by contract to keep to myself. (If that were the case, I'd probably tell you anyway… heck, I wouldn't have even signed the paper.) Nor is it even that my creative and/or intuitive inspiration wasn't struck by an ideal theme for this week's writings, other than, of course, wishing I could tell you what was going on. (And if that were the case… well, I can't say for sure it isn't.)

More than either of these, though, I'm moved by the combination of (1) the fact I keep getting inquiries about 'hey, what exactly has been going on, anyways?' and (2) a complex and somewhat confusing set of astrology factors influencing this moment of post-eclipse reentry.

First off, recent discussions and emails with several different folks all yielded a similar observation—they, and seemingly everyone else they know, are all enduring a fairly potent period of dealing with some big shit. When I ponder my immediate circle of friends and myself, I can't disagree with this description. (What about you?) Apparently, some long-present, deep-seated issues are tunneling their way out from their hibernal repression-nests and rejoining the conscious forefront of our lives, so that we can't really look away. It's an experience usually to our ultimate benefit… and also usually a pain in the ass as it happening.

'What astrological thing do you attribute this to?' they want to know. My immediate answer is the Apr 24 lunar eclipse in Scorpio. Lunar eclipses are extra-special, intensely charged full moons, shining their wacky wild light down on us, illuminating, gifting us with suddenly heightened awareness in certain areas of our lives. Scorpio, the sign where this recent lunar eclipse fell, is the cesspool repository for our deepest, darkest psychological crap. It makes sense, then, that a lunar eclipse in Scorpio could have this effect.

When these folks report that this intensity has actually been going on for a month or so, I remind them (and myself) that eclipses enjoy a sphere of influence spanning several weeks before and after the actual events occur. This puts whatever they're describing easily within orb. Or am I trying to fit a round peg in a Scorpio-eclipse-shaped hole? And is this even a coherent phenomenon I'm attempting to decipher and explain? What exactly am I describing?

This 'something or not something?' sense brings us to the other muse for this week's musings—an unusual mix of multiple astro-aspects that sketch a hard-to-cleanly-read environment, fueling confusion and contradiction at every turn.

Take, for starters, this upcoming Sunday's New Moon in Taurus. A Taurus New Moon is traditionally seen as one of the most steadying and fortifying moments of the year, an opportunity for committing to conduct the concrete efforts necessary for creating real stuff from our ideas. With this year's Taurus New Moon coming on the heels of an eclipse-wild lunar cycle, its stabilizing effect couldn't be more welcome.

Except that stability isn't necessarily the order of this lunation, due to the square (90-degree angle) made by the Sun and Moon to mystically unsettling Neptune in Aquarius. Neptune's symbolic purpose essentially seeks to undo Taurus-type intent—dissolving ego investment in the material, encouraging the surrender of tight control, and dispensing drops of enlightenment along seemingly peripheral detour-routes. The Neptunian impact is obvious: As we seriously vow to do our work, we aren't exactly sure we know what it should be. We aim to be practical, but we also sense the 'practical' value in being open and faithful instead of fixed and sort of boring. What's the right answer here?

It gets tricky, like any square between planets can be, because conflicting impulses—the Sun/Moon in Taurus vs. Neptune in Aquarius—must both be honored to avoid the more glaring upheavals. Clinging too obstinately to the most 'sensible' methodologies can screw us up when the unforeseen throws twigs in our spokes. We've got to be able to drift with the currents, or we miss opportunities. On the other hand, a sturdy measure of sure-footed commitment is certainly what we need, no matter how many variables we can list that tempt us to eschew steadfastness altogether. Currents or not, we've also got to do something, and promise to do it the way we're doing it, at least for now… even knowing we might have to change it later.

Another square forms this week between Mercury in Aries and Saturn in Cancer, another conflict of energies to try to resolve, though they tug unagreeably against each other. Mercury, though still in Aries, has finally moved past the shadow of its recent retrograde and into new ground. Its proximity to the Moon's North Node adds a future-directed emphasis to the already-forward-thinking Mercury in Aries. So don't be afraid of changing your mind. Basically, any thinking and speaking of new ideas with relatively little censorship (externalized 'brainstorming' at its most elemental level) is karmically supported… and anything else inhibits movement ahead.

But Saturn, by nature, is inhibitive. And Saturn tightens its reign over Mercury's intellectual and communicative domain, even while Mercury seeks its fullest freedom. Inhibitions, of course, are sometimes useful, like when used to demonstrate that we take each other's (and our own) emotional well-being seriously, as Saturn in Cancer represents. Saying whatever comes to us can be unnecessarily disturbing to the listening party—and consequently to us—if we don't exercise some care. Yet too much 'care' is an excuse to hold our true selves back, and build up suppressed anger in the process.

In addition to these squares, we're also meeting amplified undertones from two longer-term inconjuncts between slower-moving planets—Jupiter inconjunct Uranus, and Saturn inconjunct Pluto. There's not space here for detailed interpretations of these aspects, but it's enough to say that the inconjunct, a 150-degree aspect of nagging discomfort, speaks of lots brewing under the surface, with little making it to climax. These inconjuncts (both waning from previous oppositions between their planets) are subtly setting the stage for future trines—Jupiter trine Uranus (Nov 05-Aug 06), and Saturn trine Pluto (Aug 07)—when their energies will work more cooperatively with each other. For now, though, this rub between widely divergent influences that resist a blending underscores what we're feeling.

As you can see, there truly isn't a convenient overarching umbrella under which to generalize the current 'what's going on', whatever it may be. But hopefully, this discussion of the various factors at play provides a smidgeon more of understanding, as we keep moving…