NEPTUNE STILL on November 9, 2011

NEPTUNE STILL on November 9, 2011
 

Neptune stations today (the still point where we look out to the solar system toward that planet and due mostly to our orbital motion about the Sun Neptune changes from backward to forward against the measuring dial of the Tropical Zodiac) which means, it resumes forward motion. For a few days though Neptune has pretty much not been moving and that will be the case for a few more days to come.

Neptune (discovered 9/23/1846 in Berlin) is a slow mover anyway, taking about 164.79 years to orbit the Sun, 14 years in a Sign, moving about two degrees a year, and due to how we view and track Neptune's motion through the Zodiac it appears to spend about 5 months of every 12 in backward, retrograde, motion. That slowness and infrequency is one of the factors that make a Neptune station (change of direction) special.

I saw a fellow on the beach the other day burning a drawing into a piece of flat driftwood. He used a hand magnifier to focus the sun's rays to burn in a design. When the alignment is right and steady the focal energy is powerful enough to burn the wood. Similarly, when a planet reaches a station point it is as though it is in a similar state of high focus. That's what we have now with Neptune.

Neptune is the planet of the Great Dream, of emotional absolutes like Truth, Love, Beauty, and of the higher realms of music and art. What first came to mind as I allowed the Neptunian flow today (after bravely resisting an impulse to meditate - which by the way is an excellent idea when Neptune is emphasized) was the Lovin' Spoonful song that I've been a fan of since it first hit the airwaves in 1966, "What a day for a daydream,"  begins the tune, Daydream.
 

I just wanted to point out Neptune's station today and suggest that on the one hand it's okay and appropriate to give time to your dream, and, on the other hand, that a bit more concentration is in order if you have a job in something that requires critical exactitude (like an air-traffic controller) or even in, as drug labels may say, driving or operating machinery. That applies any time Neptune is in emphasis.

While I'm not a big fan of degree symbols, I will point out that the most popular symbols, The Sabian Symbols give this for the degree of Neptune's station today:  28-29 deg Aquarius - A Butterfly Emerging From A Chrysalis.  Isn't that special?

A Few Notes on October 2010 Astrology

October 11, 2010:  A lovely Crescent Moon in the early evening last night went out of bounds (OOB) a few minutes after her exact forty-five degree separation from the Sun.  She’ll remain OOB until

Wed 10/13/2010 1:35 PM UT, 9:35 AM Eastern, 8:35 AM Central, 7:35 AM Mountain, 6:35 AM Pacific, and 3:35 AM here in Hawai’i.

Additionally, a longer term aspect came to perfection last night.  The aspect, a parallel in declination, is not one that gets a lot of press.  It’s a measurement analogous to latitude on the surface of the planet.  Saturn and Uranus reached the same precise distance south of the celestial equator.  The aspect suggests some emphasis of the dynamic between the planet of order and structure, Saturn, and the planet of revolutionary change, Uranus.

This is an enhanced continuation of one of the big picture planetary alignments that’s been discussed quite a bit in terms of the opposition of those two.  Saturn opposed Uranus for the first of five times November 4, 2008 and then the opposition repeated (due to retrogrades) 5 February 2009, 15 September 2009, 26 April 2009, with a final exact opposition on 26 July 2010.

The expression represented by the aspect in opposition is far from over as the aspect in declination reminds us.  Saturn wants to put a straight jacket on the impulse for democratic advance as represented by Uranus that the writer Richard Tarnas has compared to the archetype of Prometheus.  Prometheus was the Titan who looked out for the well being of man and is famous for giving the gift of fire (a modern comparison might be technology and the democratizing Internet).

At this point in a global economic recession the forces of Saturn represent the conservative impulse to go with what is tried and known while the progressive impulse of Uranus is to protect and find benefit for the masses.  The obvious parallel (pun intended) is apparent to the astrologer as another of the connections to be found between the sky show and life on this miracle planet.

What a time!  SuperMoon-New Moon and Venus retrograde October 7, Jupiter retrograde in aspect to Neptune retrograde on the 8th for more on the “adjusting” going on about faith, religion, and beliefs, and a Mercury with the Sun “Superior Conjunction” on the 16th to suggest continued focus on relationship communication.  We need to listen to one another more than we need to talk to one another.

I thought to just post the OOB Moon information to Facebook but this grew a bit beyond the mild lunacy that the OOB suggests so I’m putting this on the blog instead.  Look for the day-to-day effect of the OOB to see a bit of jitter to life, the ball takes an odd bounce.