It seems Mars has invited us to ponder his upcoming retrograde—indeed we could say it has already begun, as Mars has been in the degree of his station for nearly a week. The ill-fated cruise of the Costa Concordia was waylaid by Mars—or his emissary, Captain Francesco Shettino, who embodied Mars at his worst: reckless, irresponsible, and cowardly. Tennis star Marcos Baghdatis also found himself overwhelmed by Mars, when in a fit of anger, he destroyed four of his own rackets, two of them new.  Mars is retrograde from January 23 to April 13, but the weeks before and after the station may be most volatile. Life slows down—things don’t work, people don’t cooperate, machines behave strangely. We could find ourselves responding with out-of-control frustration, moving too fast or too recklessly.  But the key is to do the opposite: slow down and move cautiously.  

In his retrograde station, Mars squares Jupiter in my chart. I did not expect him to take shape as an intruder! This week, an unbalanced and angry former friend snuck into my house, stole a couple items, and left the side gate open, so that my dog Jupiter ran free through the streets! Jupiter was eventually found, the police were called, and the house is newly secured. I did a ritual to Mars and made an offering: I gladly paid $99 to the locksmith, whose profession is ruled by Mars.

Eclipses signal moments of transition, and often disorientation, when things are revealed to be other than what they had seemed. This week’s Solar Eclipse falls in Sagittarius, the sign of higher education, sports, and beliefs.  In the past two weeks, two scandals involving universities have sent shock waves through the media.

First, a former defensive coordinator for Pennsylvania State University’s football team was accused of engaging in sexual abuse of children, and his behavior appears to have been covered up by his supervisors. The story has stunned the nation, but has had a particular disorienting effect on the Penn State community, where university football and coach Joe Paterno have long served as a unifying social and even moral nexus. Reporter Michael Winereb, who hails from State College, Pennsylvania (home of Penn State), summed up the stunned reactions of the town in a piece for Grantland (italics mine):

When I saw those televised shots of [coach Joe Paterno's] house on McKee Street, something caught in my throat, a conditioned response to a man I’ve been raised to believe was the moral arbiter of our community. All I can say by way of explanation is that there are people here who will cling to iconography because this is what they’ve always done. That’s what I think is happening here: It’s not that we are condoning child rape, and it’s not that we don’t recognize our obligation to the victims above all else. It’s that we are condemning all that Jerry Sandusky is accused of and trying to make it right while also dealing with this involuntary response to the death throes of a way of life.

Second, videotape emerged of campus police using pepper spray on peaceful Occupy demonstrators at the University of California Davis. The videotape (and waggish collages, like the one above, that insert pepper-spraying cops into works of art) went viral over the weekend, and UC Davis’ Chancellor has met with angry shouts from students and protests, demanding her resignation. The shocking footage of the incident has made UC Davis the latest focal point of the Occupy movement. As an employee of UC San Diego remarked to me yesterday, “I thought campus police were supposed to protect the students, not pepper spray them.”

You may not be involved with a university, a sports team, or the Occupy movement – but with this week’s eclipse in Sagittarius, you’re asked to examine your core beliefs. When people and institutions that we trust are revealed to have feet of clay, what is left for us to believe in? Fortunately, Sagittarius the optimist offers this:  We can always trust what we know to be true and ethical in ourselves.

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Guest blogger April Elliott Kent is the author of The Essential Guide to Practical Astrology and Star Guide to Weddings. Visit her website to learn more about her eclipse report, Followed by a Moonshadow. April is a regular contributor to MoonCircles.

 

To quote a prominent cultural prophet from the sixties (during the Uranus/Pluto conjunction), “You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing.” Those who are wondering if Occupy Wall Street will fizzle out need only ask an astrologer. Looking at the coming squares between Uranus and Pluto, the astrologer will state unequivocably, “No, this protest isn’t dying soon.”

We have not seen Venus for weeks. She’s been been traveling with (and hidden by) the Sun. But she’s just now reached the heart of her underworld journey, moving into exact conjunction with the Sun at 23 Leo. What has been happening to her beyond the veil is a mystery. But you can get a sense of her state of mind if you consider what’s been happening in your own life. Your inner Venus is a special jewel in the countless reflections of her journey.

I tend to think of this of this meeting between Sun and Venus (often called their “superior” conjunction) as her coronation. Throughout the months since her “interior” Sun/Venus conjunction, she has been ascending to her throne through seven celestial gates (her monthly conjunctions to the Moon). Now as she receives her crown, you see in your own life a fulfillment of earlier dreams—or a reckoning for hopes dashed or deferred. Either way, you’ve learned a few things about love, creativity, and prosperity. Venus will soon shine as an evening star, becoming a more mature, refined and civilizing influence. May you become so too.

This is the turning point of a Venus cycle that began on October 28, 2010. Do you remember what irritations and pleasures were stirring at that time? Venus was retrograde then and very powerful. If you listened to her, you might see a direct relationship between your current situation and the desires you felt at that time. You may also find some resonance between current events and seeds planted at the last Sun/Venus conjunction near this degree (on August 17, 2007 at 24 Leo). What were you dreaming of then? Is a celebration in order now?

Mars does not play gently. He’s even more outrageous when he’s Out of Bounds (as he’s been since July 24 until August 22). Amongst clients and friends, he’s raised courage and anger: desires won’t be denied! Early this week, when he stepped into the tension of the coming Uranus/Pluto square, he triggered mayhem and shock in several British cities. Along with the riots, he brought yet another glimpse into our likely tumultuous future. When Uranus meets Pluto—seven times over the next four years—the forces for change and revolution will do fierce battle against the powerful status quo.

“Opportunistic criminals,” PM David Cameron called the Twitter-organized looters and arsonists; he vowed to meet their Mars with his: “We will track you down, we will find you, we will charge you, we will punish you. You will pay for what you have done.”

It’s true, there was an extra Lammas-fueled madness in the streets—the Sun had reached fifteen degrees of fixed Leo; the riots coincided with this traditional cross-quarter celebration of the harvest. But what happens when there is no harvest to celebrate? Without a grain goddess to thank, do people ignite shops and steal consumer goods? Not all of the rioters were economically disadvantaged. But when around the world so many able-bodied people are unemployed, when struggling economies continue to make deep cuts to social programs, when the gap grows ever wider between those who have money and power and those who don’t, it’s easy to see that fuses are readying to ignite all over the world. The Uranus/Pluto square will be exact for the first time in the summer of 2012. Oh, just when London hosts the Olympic Games! Mars loves athletic contests. Let’s hope he behaves.

Mars stepped Out of Bounds—beyond the Sun’s declination—on July 24 and will continue that way through August 22. Those born with Out of Bound planets do just as the name implies: they stretch the limits, bringing extreme genius or crazy, often both. The gifted athlete and cheating husband Tiger Woods has an OOB Mars; shock jock Howard Stern and euthanasia advocate Jack Kevorkian have OOB Mercuries.

During Out of Bound periods, the outlaw archetype prods us into stretching the limits of its expression. Mars is assertive action. Extreme Mars can impel us to improve our athletic performance, to take initiative, to be daring and pioneering, or to become dangerous, reckless, and violent. He can plant in us a powerful rage, new creative passion, surprising courage or extreme hate, depending on the soil he finds in us. The Norwegian terrorist, Anders Behring, traveled in a world of violent online video games and extremist politics. When Mars stepped beyond bounds, Behring became a mass murderer, hoping to ignite a world war.

Each of us has a Mars. When attacked, our personal warrior gathers our fear and rage and typically does one of two things: return the aggression or retreat behind barricades. But Jens Stoltenberg, Norway’s Prime Minister, did neither. When asked a day after the attack if stronger security measures were needed, he said no. “I don’t think security can solve problems. We need to teach greater respect.” He asked his country not to abandon its tradition of tolerance, but to hold more tightly to it. “The Norwegian response to violence is more democracy, more openness, and greater political participation.” These bold words—which would be unheard of in many political landscapes—is Mars Out of Bounds at his finest.

During the weeks before the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, presumably when Bin Laden’s group was doing their planning, Mars had been Out of Bounds for an especially long period: that year it was OOB from April to October. Such correspondences between the sky and dramatic events often makes us gasp. But it’s good to remember that planets are not the cause of anything. The celestial picture is but a reflection of our picture. And right now each of us has an Out of Bound Mars. How are you expressing him?

If you’re interested in learning more about Out of Bounds planets, read Pamela Welch’s fine article here.

What was the message—when the winged Messenger, Mercury—entered its-retrograde shadow just as NASA’s Messenger entered this planet’s orbit? And what should we make of the first close-ups of Mercury’s surface being released on the very day the planet stationed retrograde?

Of the gods, Mercury is the most clever and nimble, an artist of intricate puzzles. Perhaps he knows we’ve named his craters for artists, musicians and writers; he released his photos as Earth was entering a Pisces Moon (the sign of photography, art and symphonies). What was that bright spot on his very first photo? The Debussy crater. Does Mercury have a special relationship with this gifted composer? Of course! Rising with the Sun on the eastern horizon just after Debussy was born, Mercury is strong in his own sign in this chart.

Mercury’s retrograde is traditionally seen as a time of snafus and mechanical breakdowns, but NASA’s engineers checked the Messenger craft carefully before turning on its instruments: everything worked! I’ve had this argument with colleagues for years: I’ve noticed that a lot does work during the retrograde. And it seems that Mercury may have chosen this moment to give us both a new view of his surface—and of retrogrades. At least—to allow in his Mercurial way—that at the same time unexpected problems can occur so can unexpected miracles.

Mercury retrogrades occur three times a year, but at least one of those will be what I call a “fix-it” retrograde. Just as the name implies, this retrograde allows us to fix many critical problems we’ve collected in the preceding weeks. It’s as though the universe floats a “to do” list into our hands and we discover an easier momentum to tackle its projects. We take advantage of the “redo, rethink, rework, repair” promise of the time.

Our brains usually want to drift and dream during Mercury’s retrograde. That’s why they don’t pay attention to details, which is what creates many of our frustrating retrograde moments. Yet with Mercury in quick-paced Aries now (along with five other planets!), there’s just too much energy to pause in the usual retrograde way. What’s more, Saturn is opposite the cluster of Aries planets. If we don’t direct energy carefully, he will call us to account! So how can we best use this “fix it” retrograde to actually fix things?

Let’s take our cue from NASA’s Messenger. In order to enter Mercury’s orbit—so close to the stronger gravitational pull of the Sun and without any atmosphere to slow itself down—the space craft had to perform a clever slow burn, so it could be captured by Mercury’s gravity. Perhaps in the whirling universe of your own life, there’s a particular way you could slow down, in the proximity of your problems; let their gravity pull you into their orbit. Once there, check your plan, get focused, and turn on the juice.

It’s hard to imagine that anything could shift our focus from the stunning revolutions sweeping the Middle East and Africa last month. That was expansive Jupiter reaching zero Aries—raising courage and sending through this sensitive degree in the World’s chart the conviction that new worlds are possible. Just as we began to ask ourselves, when and where all this regime change would end, electrifying Uranus entered Aries. This sky lord creates new worlds too, but his action is sudden, violent, and disruptive. An earthquake measuring 8.9 (later elevated to 9) struck Japan, followed by a tsunami that erased whole villages from the landscape, killed tens of thousands and physically moved the Japanese coastline eight feet.

What happens at zero Aries happens to the world. We are all riveted on events in Japan, and through them, we are refocused—on our own vulnerabilities, the fragility of life on this planet, and the necessity of waking up to the needs of this time. Uranus is not just the Great Destroyer; he is the Great Awakener whose message now is clear: Pay Attention! Here is your opportunity to change the way we live on this planet!

There is much work to do. As I write this, four nuclear reactors damaged by the earthquake/tsunami are perilously close to meltdown, and two others are compromised. Thousands are homeless, Japan’s financial markets have already lost hundreds of billions of dollars, and reporters, international leaders, and people everywhere seem incapable of fully grasping what has happened and what might still happen. We are in shock. But we must not stay there.

Next year, Uranus will begin squaring  Pluto, an event that promises even greater global change. Things will get tougher, and how we handle that will largely be determined by how much we’ve awakened from this challenging point on. If you’re creative, organize your projects and get to work. If you’re emotional, send compassionate intentions to those around the world who are in distress. This moment is a tipping point. It’s not the last one, but let us make allies out of Jupiter and Uranus. Let’s rise up. Let’s realize that we are fully capable and compassionate—that we can meet our serious challenges with great energy and a powerful imagination.

Like lucky paparazzi behind the hedges, we’ve been given plenty of god sightings these days. During exciting times—and these are such times—the archetypes walk more boldly among us, teaching or meddling, depending on the day or your point of view.

I never understood why ancient astrologers claimed Saturn was exalted in cooperative Libra. It seems like such a soft or even prissy sign in which to dress the master, but I’ve been schooled. Through events in Egypt (a Saturn-in-Libra nation), Saturn is showing us how to stand elegantly firm with dignified restraint. The thirty-something dissidents—many of whom have Saturn in Libra in their charts—gave us a vital, organized, disciplined, harmonious and successful demonstration of peace in a region that has too long carried the world’s projected shadow of violence. The world’s balance requires the nourishing imagery of Tahrir Square. Let’s remember this 2011 Saturn victory for Libra virtues like equality, justice, and peace.

The events in Egypt also demonstrate a fine way to approach and appease Saturn during his often-dreaded returns. Perhaps we wouldn’t have to dread them if, in whatever sign they occured, we strove to embody the best virtues of the sign. Egypt as a nation, the Mubarak regime, and the young dissidents are all going through their Saturn returns (it’s the first for the dissidents born when Mubarak came to power; it’s the second for the country). Mubarak’s regime is getting one of those crushing Saturn returns that compensates for getting too far out of balance, going beyond the limits of proper responsibility. Wael Ghonim—the Egyptian Google executive whose internet activism and imprisonment helped galvanize the demonstrations—expressed gratitude to the Mubarak regime for taking itself down through its own stupidity. That’s how most bad Saturn returns happen. Ghonim is also riding his Saturn Return, but he’s more receptive. Positive Libran virtues weave throughout his words and gestures, as when he forgave the ones who beat him because he understood how it looked from their eyes—they thought he was the bad guy. When they took his blindfold off, he kissed them. Now there’s an exalted Libra Saturn!

Of course it wasn’t Saturn alone who brought the revolution. Uranus and Jupiter, both fresh from squaring Egypt’s Sun and Jupiter squaring Mars, drove high energy, courage, and enthusiasm into Tahrir Square. But Pluto played an important role. Between the first demonstrations of the youth movement on April 6, 2008 and the revolution declared on January 25, 2011—Pluto opposed Egypt’s Mars five times. This transit is well known—and feared—for its violence and extreme power struggles. An astrologer might easily have predicted this would be when the powder keg would ignite. What happened is instructive. People began filming police brutality with cell phones and posting these videos on Facebook. It shocked the nation and helped it to gather its courage, so that when the first protestors began walking to the Square on January 25, they had gone beyond the barrier of fear. How succinctly this portrays the highest promise of a Pluto/Mars transit! What is underhanded will be exposed and what is disempowered will be transformed.

Of course not every moment was a victory. Resistance thugs appeared. People died. And on February 11, as Venus separated from her conjunction to Pluto, the CBS news correspondent Lara Logan was separated from her crew during the celebration of Mubarak stepping down. She was beaten and sexually assaulted by a mob until finally rescued by a group of women and soldiers. Like Perspehone abducted by Pluto, she has since disappeared. There are no statements from her family or her employer. What do we make of this? Though we might want the gods to be always on our side, we must suffer, respect, or stand in awe of their mysteries too. Perhaps it is a moment for those of us with Pluto/Venus contacts in our own charts to behold the loss of innocence in ourselves, to be the grieving Demeter, and perform the dance that eventually brings Persphone back as a queen.

Of course the gods are also brilliantly entertaining. When Sun and Mars conjoined in Pisces, they marched onto the world stage in the form of two colossal egos, driven mad by their own (drug-induced?) fantasies—Muamar Gaddafi in Libya and Charlie Sheen in Hollywood. Oh let’s personalize this lesson too! Pisces can dissolve us into higher realities, but if not adequately prepared, we might also fall down the rabbit holes of addiction, deception, illusion, manipulation, and victimization. It’s a good time to wonder: with what ego-serving delusions have we been fooling ourselves!?

Great day! The gods are alive in Egypt! Mubarek resigns after thirty years as Egypt’s dictator. There is much to say about the astrology of this event, but as my computer live-streams Al Jazeera’s great coverage, I find myself thinking of Saturn, exalted in its current sign: polite, harmonious, and graceful Libra. When one of the commentators was asked to sum up this moment, he called it “The Dignity Revolution,” praising the calm, kindness, and dignity of the Egyptian people as they held their ground against oppression. For the past weeks, watching the exciting coverage, I saw smiling faces on the long polite lines of protestors heading into Tahrir Square, I saw women standing equally with men, I saw people sharing food and water, parents swinging their children in delight. The Egyptians gave us Saturn in Libra at its finest!

Not surprisingly, Egypt is a Saturn-in-Libra country, heading for its second Saturn return. Mubarak took office during the country’s first Saturn return. If you’ve wondered what Saturn returns mean to countries, these are good events to study. If you’ve got a Saturn return coming up in your own life, know that it’s time to act on lessons learned and change your current structure. But be polite. Especially, be kind to yourself. Act with strength and grace.

Saturn in Libra has been visible in the United States too. There were those embarrassing diplomatic flip-flops in the early days of the Egyptian uprising. That’s the shadow of Libra in Saturn–a government that’s indecisive, vacillating, superficial. But on a more positive note, after the recent horrific shooting of Senator Gabrielle Giffords, throughout the US blogosphere there has been a call for a “new civility” in our political discourse. “Just say No” Republicans sat with “We Don’t Know What We Stand For” Democrats during the President’s State of the Union address. Will their new harmony stick? Will Congress actually work together? If they don’t, Egypt has shown us an interesting way to respond. Remember Ghandi’s example. He had a Libra Sun.

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