And the Earth Keeps Spinning!
Welcome to the Autumnal Equinox!
Along with the Sun crossing the equator on his way to shining his summer rays on our friends in the south, Mercury is active today…
And the next month or so is gearing up to be one to keep us on our toes, especially when it comes to our hidden, feminine energies!
Let’s begin with a little context…
One of the big stories of the past two years that is about to wrap up next month is the contentious square between Eris (the goddess of discord) in Aries and Pluto (Hades in Greek mythology) in Capricorn.
I’ve mentioned the story of Eris before in past blogs, but I will repeat it here in case you have forgotten. Feel free to skip ahead if you remember the story…
Eris was the goddess who wasn’t invited to a big party on Mt. Olympus, but being no wall flower she showed up anyway. She flung a golden apple into the center of the gathering and said, “This is for the fairest among you!”
Instantly, the latent rivalry between the other goddesses presented itself. They pled to Zeus to declare one of them the fairest. Zeus, being a shrewd politician, said, “I have a better idea, let’s take this contest off the mountain. I know this mortal named Paris. He would love to help us with this matter,” while thinking to himself, “My wife is one of you, no thank you!”
Each of the goddesses offered Paris special gifts if he chose her. Hera, Zeus’ wife, and “queen of the gods,” offered the simple shepherd kingly power, wealth, and rulership over all of Earth. Athena offered the gift of military prowess, but the gift that Aphrodite “the goddess of love” offered appealed to him most – the most beautiful woman alive. Unfortunately, Helen of Troy was already married, and this is how the Trojan war began!
So, Eris stirred up quite a lot with a simple gift of a golden apple…the goddesses had been playing very nicely with each other until she came along and exposed what was hidden!
Photo by Lians Jadan on Unsplash
To my knowledge, Eris and Hades (Pluto) didn’t interact much in person, but now that I think of it, that war did send plenty of new souls into Hade’s realm.
Astrologers love to look at dates of certain aspects and speculate over the effects in our world events, and I’ll admit that I have an inclination toward that myself!
For the curious, here are the dates of the Pluto/Eris squares:
1/26/2020
6/14/2020
12/10/2020
8/27/2021
10/8/2021
As you can see, the last one will happen on October 8th, but here’s the thing…because of the slow speed of both Eris and Pluto, the square since August 27th (at 24° of Aries/Capricorn) will continue to be active until the final square on the 8th of October, and will continue to linger until November 24th.
The reason I’m spending so much time on this is because they are both being kicked up today…
Mercury in Libra is opposing Eris and squaring Pluto, and the Moon is moving through Aries forming a fast conjunction to Eris, square to Pluto, and an opposition to Mercury.
What does all of this mean?
There are several ways to unpack this…along with the mythology, Eris represents strong and independent women…women who are not afraid of bucking the status quo and they will not be told what their place is in this world. If they don’t see a place for them at the table, they will pull up a chair and make themselves at home anyway.
When I’m speaking of women, I’m speaking quite literally & figuratively. Expect strong women to be in the news but remember that the feminine archetype dwells in men as well. We will have opportunities to create a new paradigm related to how we mediate and create peace.
As Eris and Pluto have been quarreling over the past year and a half, we do know that many issues around human rights have been brought to the surface.
Both Mercury and the Moon are normally swift as they move through the sky, but our messenger god, (the only one who could freely come and go into the underworld) is slowing down to go retrograde on September 26th/27th, depending on where you are in the world, which of course affects communication, transportation, and electronics, so this is a great “reflect and review” period.
Today, Mercury will form the first of 3 squares with Pluto, as he crosses the VERY sensitive degree of 24° Libra. He’ll form the 2nd square to Pluto and opposition to Eris on October 1st as he is moving backwards. On October 18th, he’ll station direct and then start his march forward to oppose Eris and square Pluto on November 1st/2nd.
Whatever is poised to unfold over the next few months, we can certainly expect to hear a lot about it in the news and wherever we gather information because Mercury rules communication.
What I do know is that Mercury in Libra has a gift of being able to see both sides, (or all 7.8+ billion sides of a situation!). He is the great negotiator. Now given that Venus rules Libra, Mercury will be receiving marching orders from her. Today and on October 1st, Venus is in Scorpio, where she is quite frankly not very happy. The news is likely to be extra contentious.
But on November 1st/2nd, for Mercury’s final pass through 24° Libra, Venus will have moved into Sagittarius, where she is much happier and more likely to share greater wisdom from a more elevated perspective.
If you have any planets or sensitive points (Ascendant, MC, Nodes…) between 22° & 26° of the cardinal signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn), this period is likely to be extra intense. Given that Eris and Pluto are involved, you may expect to have something that was hidden/latent come to the surface.
Everything that happens in life happens at the perfect time for our highest good to bring us all closer to oneness.
