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Astro-diary XXXIV: the ‘3-12 interaction’ Mar/2025
Hermes-Mercury might not have sprung from the 4th quadrant, but he still has no trouble hopping up-&-down through all levels of un/consciousness. The $64,000Q in respect of ‘3’ journeying down into ‘12’ is likely to be: to what extent is the human psyche confused by the information that it is gathering? Your local Mercurial Jungian will advise as follows, “gather everything, decide nothing, 10,000 reasons to wait”.
Astro-diary XXXIII: the ‘1-2 interaction’ Feb/2025
Every spring equinox features the entry of the Sun into tropical Aries (a ‘1-5 interaction’). This year, Venus enters Aries in winter. Not unlike ‘11’ & ‘12’, ‘1’ & ‘2’ (Aries & Taurus, the first two houses; Mars & Venus) are pairable, yet, unlike ‘11’ & ‘12’, ‘1’ & ‘2’ don’t hesitate when, via their “extraversion”, they intuit-sense matter. Freud’s natal Venus in Aries played an important part in his Solar Taurean talent.
Astro-dairy XXXII: the ‘12-2 interaction’ Jan/2025
‘12’ might be “soulful” but, if an individual intends to “individuate”, s/he needs to leave the “collective” behind, however “soulful” it is. Across 2025 (into early 2026), Neptune leaves Pisces behind and, in early 2025, Venus & Mercury conjunct Neptune in both signs. Hence, 2025 lends itself to an overview of ‘12’’s sundry interactions. The retrograde Piscean fish abuts Aquarius, but even the anterograde fish seems hesitant.
Astro-diary XXIX: the ‘11-6 interaction’ Dec/2024
Academic psychology is a naughty discipline. Decades have past and it remains happy to Prometheanly steal “psyche” (“soul”) from “religion” and, having done so, like Freud (another Promethean stealer), it then looks to “explain religion away”. For a time, this mindset kept Freud within the academic circle, but the ‘fracture-philia’ of ‘11 ideology’ can’t hold things together. Without “soul”, ‘11-ish’ “things fall apart”…
Astro-diary XXVIII: the ‘3-9 interaction’ Nov/2024
On 18/11/2024, Mercury in Sagittarius will transit into its opposition to Jupiter in Gemini (= a triple ‘3-9 interaction’). Fans of “Star Wars” know that “Luke” makes a ‘leap up away’ from sibling issues (“Han” & “Leia” remains stuck in the ‘lows’) to confront his matriarchy-bonded father… only to fall back down. A ‘Sophia-wise’ soul will ever keep an eye on dubious “spiritual short cutting” when ‘3’ interacts with ‘9’.
A Short Course in Mandala-ology Pt.II Oct/2024
Another NY that places the Christian, Chinese and pagan NYs in context is the Jewish Rosh Hashanah. As in the Chinese NY, this NY takes cues from the new Moon but, instead of Western Aquarius, it is new in Libra. This means that it is mixed up in the journey back up-(out) through the 7 celestial spheres. This means that, in addition to the harvest, Rosh Hashanah points to upcoming atonements with the Creator.
Astro-diary XXVII: the ‘11-12 interaction’ Sep/2024
Most astrologers interpret conjunctions, such as the conjunction of Uranus & Neptune of 1993, as “seed moments” that flower as the planets involved separate into sextile, square, trine, quincunx and opposite relations to each other. The perfection of Uranus-Neptune sextile won’t be experienced until August 2025, but it is close enough in August 2024 (<2º) to consider the 3rd of the ‘watery 4-8-12’ interactions with ‘11’.
Astro-diary XXVI: the ‘11-8 interaction’ Aug/2024
On 21/7/2024, there was a full Moon (= a Moon-Sun opposition) near the cusp of Capricorn-Aquarius that formed a conjunction-opposition with Pluto in Aquarius. For the FA-er, the days the spin out from this full Moon (to the following new Moon) are useful to reflect on the fact that this full Moon had ‘picked up’ the current ‘clash’ between the archetype of “low centre”, ‘8’, & the archetype of “high eccentre”, ‘11’.
Astro-diary XXVI: the ‘11-1 interaction’ Jul/2024
If, dear reader, you have digested our “Short Course in Mandala-ology” (Feb 2024), you may have an easier time digesting our view that ‘1’’s desire for a “monism” (“non-dualism”) to triumph interacting with ‘11’’s desire for idealistic perfectionisms is a recipe for Kleinian “splitting”. In mid-July 2024, ‘1 Mars’ will be charging into a conjunction with ‘11 Uranus’. Promethean forethought does well to be on the menu.
Astro-diary XXV: the ‘11-4 interaction’ Jun/2024
The transit and “progression” of the Moon symbolizes the “ensoulment” of the soma in “this life”. Therefore, the Moon’s passage through the 4th quadrant ‘(10)-11-(12)’ symbolizes opportunities to pick up some of the psyche’s gestational “stragglers” and deliver them to the soul’s 2nd quadrant ‘4-(5-6) home’. With ‘11 Aquarius’ as one of the “fixed” signs, ‘4’’s ego-dynamic-time-flowing quality can loosen ‘11’’s “fixity”.
Astro-diary XXIV: the ‘11-3 interaction’ May/2024
Hermes-Mercury might not have sprung from Ouranos-Uranus’ loins, but he still has no trouble hopping up-&-down through the ‘levels’ of un/consciousness. The $64,000Q in respect of ‘3’ jumping into ‘11’ is likely to be: to what extent is the human psyche tricked by the information that it is gathering? Your local Mercurial Jungian will advise as follows, “gather everything, decide nothing, 10,000 reasons to wait”.
Astro-diary XXIII: the ‘9-11 interaction’ Apr/2024
On 21/4/2024, Jupiter will form its once/14yrs conjunction with Uranus. The last time this occurred in Taurus was during WWII. With philosopher being creatures who deal in ‘airy’ logic & ‘fiery’ intuition, times of ‘9-11 interaction’ are opportunities for philosophical beginnings. Bertrand Russell’s notes on this are ‘mis’-taken… with intuition being more inclusive of thinking than vice vera, intuition needs preference.
Astro-diary XXII: the ‘11-2 interaction’ Mar/2024
On the heels of Mars’ 13/2/2024 transit into ‘11 Aquarius’, Venus (i) transited into Aquarius on 16/2/2024, (ii) ran up to its conjunction with Mars on 22/2/2024 (also in Aquarius), and (iii) will form its waning square to transiting Uranus (in Taurus) on 3/3/2024. It makes mythological sense to discuss ‘2-11’ this March because Aphrodite-Venus, springing from ‘11 Ouranos’’ severed loins, ‘beaches’ herself onto ‘2 Taurus’.
A Short Course in Mandala-ology: Pt.I mid-Feb/2024
The Chinese New Year occurs near the midpoint of Christian (winter solstice) & ‘pagan’ (spring equinox) New Years. The CNY points astrologers to the beginning of the re-descent of ‘soul-spirit’ through the 7 celestial spheres. The Taiji, the Chinese mandala of yin-yang that emphasizes circles & cycles, links the angularity of Western religion to the circularity of the zodiac. FA is entering its 21st year (d.o.b. 3/3/2004).
Astro-diary XXI: the ‘11-11 interaction’ mid-Feb/2024
With Pluto’s substantial entry into Aquarius in 2024, this is a worthwhile year to focus on (what we call) ‘11’: Uranus, Aquarius, the 11th house. Uranus’ most recent transit through Aquarius, the sign that it “rules”, may be two decades behind us, but it remains relevant because we have a crop of twentysomethings who have this ‘11-11’ in their respective natal charts. To what extent is ‘double 11’ ‘doubly neotenous’?
Ego-Dynamics Pt.XI: From Sagittarius to Capricorn Jan/2024
With Homo sapiens’ neoteny making it close to impossible to achieve a full “ego transformation” in one life, ‘one-shot-at-Heaven’ religions can be seen as unrealistic, even without the physicalistic sounding brass & tinkling cymbal litany of the atheists. Reincarnations are best conceived in both physical and psychological terms. After the torturers are mercifully deposed, the ‘vacuum’ can be filled with patient “reflectors”.
Upcoming Articles
Astro-diary XXXV: the ‘4-12 interaction’ Apr/2025
The growth from ‘12’ to ‘4’ might be a “soul journey” into “individuality”, but how might one imagine the ‘un-journeying’ natal Moon in Pisces &/or the 12th house? or natal Neptune in Cancer &/or the 4th house? FA’s longstanding readers know the answer: focus on Lunar transits & progressions. OK, so what about Lunar transits & progressions coming into ‘12 interactions’? Answer: they don’t last very long… swim.
Astro-diary XXXVI: the ‘1-10 interaction’ May/2025
From the end of the Northern hemisphere’s spring through all of summer 2025, ’10 Saturn’ transits the early degrees of ‘1 Aries’. Experienced astrologers like to use phrases such as “accelerating with the handbrake on” and, given that Saturn & Mars regularly aspect the M.C. & ascendant, novice astrologers will have plenty of chances to find out why. The “negative self” (e.g. the superego) antagonizes the “positive self”.
Astro-diary XXXVII: the ‘9-4 interaction’ Jun/2025
On 10/6/2025, Jupiter enters ‘4 Cancer’. With Jupiter symbolizing the psyche’s capacity to “bridge”, this yearlong transit symbolizes opportunities to re-consider the journey from ‘3 Gemini’ to ‘5 Leo’ (and, to their extents, the journeys from ‘2 Taurus’ to ‘6 Virgo’, ‘1 Aries’ to ‘7 Libra’ & ’12 Pisces’ to ‘8 Scorpio). In other words, this is a time when knowledge about the psychoanalytic “developmental sweep” can expand.
Astro-diary XXXVIII: the ‘2-3 interaction’ Jul/2025
In June & July of 2025, Venus hovers near Uranus as both transit from Taurus into Gemini. With the element of ‘11 trickery’ in this transit, the Freudastrologer does well to (i) keep Jupiter’s transit of Cancer in his/her hermeneutic frame, and (ii) look forward to the eventual mid-August 2025 conjunction of Venus with Jupiter because, being “benefic”, they could ‘tag team’ a novel perspective of the “family romance”.
Astro-diary XXXIX: the ‘6-6 interaction’ Aug/2025
2025 has two new Moons in Virgo, the 1st occurs near the cusp of Virgo and the 2nd occurs near the cusp of Libra. Through the intervening Moon-Sun inter-cycle, the “ruler” of Virgo, Mercury, will be transiting the sign of the Maiden to, thereby, place even more emphasis on ‘6’. Virginity has both somatic & psychological components… something that is to be expected from the archetype that points to psychosomatics.
Astro-diary XL: the ‘12-6 interaction’ Sep/2025
On 19/9/2025, the “ruler” of ‘6 Virgo’, Mercury, will form an opposition to the “ruler” of ‘12 Pisces’, Neptune. For ‘6’ to make good, airy-earthy sense of ‘12’, it does well to review the history of “placebo effect” that took its most significant step in the 18thC (Mesmer), the step that triggered the 19thC focus on what might be ‘underneath’ material causes. In the 20th-21stC, psychology suffered from “confused physics envy”.
Astro-diary XLI: the ‘12-7 interaction’ Oct/2025
Through autumn-winter of 2025-26, Saturn will round off its transit of Pisces (then, a 27yr break). Venus will oppose Saturn on 11/10/2025 and, then, on 14/10/2025, it enters Libra, wherein it quickly forms an opposition to ‘12 Neptune’ in Aries. These transits may be informative to those elders who have natal Neptune in Libra (born in the years, 1952-56) and are realizing that they had over-idealized their relationships.
Astro-diary XLII: the ‘1-3 interaction’ Nov/2025
On 13/11/2025, ‘3 Mercury’ will ‘1 conjunct’ ‘1 Mars’ (in ‘9 Sagittarius’). This could be a time to ‘3 think’ about ‘1 intentionality-initiative’ in a ‘9 philosophical’ way, yet, with Mercury’s transit being retrograde, this ‘3 thinking’ might find itself barking up a wrong tree. Then again, after Mercury turns anterograde, a ‘3 thinker’ may find that the information from the wrong tree is more useful than it had ‘1 first’ appeared.