Tonight was the Full Harvest Moon, the full moon closest to the autumn equinox which in 2021 is 22 September, occurring at 20:21 (British Summer time. )
Unlike other full moons, the Harvest Moon rises at nearly the same time, around sunset, for several evenings in a row, lighting the fields for the workers bringing in the harvest.
In the US, the First Nations called it The Big Moon, and so it can be, lighting the harvesting till late in the evening, or they called it The Sturgeon Moon.
The sturgeon, a really ancient, prehistoric fish found in fossil beds from the Cretaceous, and that can be 3.5 m in length, has been hunted nearly to danger of extinction on account of caviar.
Look at this old variety of maize grown by the Lakota…a glass gem corn cob. It is not eaten like this, but ground into a purplish meal.
How beautiful is that?
Glass gem maize cob
This year’s Harvest Moon is happening in third decan Pisces. The corresponding Tarot card is the rather lovely Ten of Cups. Home sweet home. Or perhaps home and dry…it kept appearing for Joe Biden during the US Election, Trump v Biden,though an oddly domestic card perhaps, in that particular context. (Mr Biden is a deep water, Scorpio subject, Mr Trump airy Gemini.)
Note the symbols hanging in the hearth-place, Mars in Pisces.
The Legacy of The Divine Tarot
What could be more peaceful? Well, yes, but Pisces can also be tricky; dream states, illusions, delusions. Neptune. This full moon might be full on emotionally intense, and this may be agreeable, OR anything but, or actually a teensy bit bonkers. One may be extra accident prone. Passions may boil over, a touch of paranoia perhaps, angry words said. One may need to watch one’s step and beware rogues and trickery.
This Moon is teetering into Mars ruled Aries later on tonight, and Aries is currently in opposition to Mars, This is heated, volatile…volcanic even. Think Cumbre Vieja.
Il Matrimonio had an odd encounter this morning, out in town. Potentially a mugger (?) sizing him up, first asking him the time as they crossed, going in opposite directions, walking on but then turning back again and following him. He, we will never know, but he felt the man’s presence behind him and stopped sharply to let the man know he was alert to him. The man meandered into a nearby bus stop he had previously just passed and hopped on a bus. Possibly there was an innocent explanation, or else the man was after Il Matrimonio’s smartphone, a snatch and run prospect.
Be alert. The country, so the old saying goes, needs lerts.
Poor old sturgeons. There they are, been here all this time, fossils dating back in the late Cretaceous era, more than 65 million years ago, being brought to the brink on account of a human hankering for blobs on toast…or is it blinis?
Orion The Hunter, ‘Man of the Mountains’ or as he was known to the early Sumerians, the Akkadians, The Light of Heaven, returns to the northern hemisphere in late July or early August, once again striding the eastern horizon at sunrise, though he is tilted on his side this time of year facing up.
But when we say return, where has he been, then? The answer is, he has been invisible, hidden in the glare of the sun since May. Yes. Now he is back, and will rise earlier each day until he is visible all evening by early December. As a girl I used to like to go out on cold frosty evenings to fill the coal scuttle from the coal bunker in the back garden. Looking up at him. I knew his name. I knew he was The Hunter but that was all, and I wondered about him, and what he was hunting up there. Those winter evenings still have that same kind of magic.
Orion is only the 26th largest constellation, sitting on the celestial equator, facing the constellation next door, the oncoming, charging, Taurus the Bull. It’s smaller than another Greek hero, Perseus but Orion’s got more brilliant stars.
(The biggest constellation is Hydra, and the biggest Zodiac constellation is Virgo.)
Orion’s brightest stars are the blue-white star Rigel, representing the Hunter’s left foot (where the scorpion bit him, sent by Gaia, and caused his death) and the red super-giant Betelgeuse, his right shoulder,only ten million years old, which makes Betelgeuse young to be a red super-giant, but it’s evolved faster due to its enormous mass. It is expected to go supernova in the next million years, and when it does will be brighter than the Moon and the brightest supernova ever to have been visible from Earth.
Orion’s third brightest star is Bellatrix, his left shoulder, while Orions’s Belt is one of the most easily recognized asterisms with its three stars, nicknamed in Arabic ‘the Golden Nuts’.
Their Arabic names, read east to west or left to right; Alnitak (girdle), Alnilam (string of pearls) and Mintaka (belt) But of course they have many other names across the world; The Magi, the Three Mary’s….
The Mayans called them ‘The Fire Drill’, invoking them in an annual fire ceremony to delay the onset of the end of the world.
‘No other constellation more accurately represents the figure of a man,’ said Germanicus Caesar
Orion has been identified as a human figure in every culture at every latitude, with countless story variations
Orion, aka Nimrod, was the son of Poseidon in Greek myth; the most handsome man ever to walk the earth. He was a great hunting buddy and friend of Artemis.Her twin brother, Apollo glowered, seeing that Artemis fancied Orion something rotten, though she had taken a vow of perpetual chastity.
Orion was a bit of a sex pest, chasing the Pleiades, so that Zeus confiscated them to the sky for their own peace and quiet. And a fat lot of good it did them, because when Orion was killed by a scorpion (THE scorpion) Artemis in her grief, asked Zeus to post Orion upstairs to the heavens, which he did, right next door to the Pleiades, who also represent the celestial bull pen of Taurus.
Thanks Zeus. You didn’t think that one through, did you?
Should Taurus ever break free of his pen, said an ancient Arabic legend, it will be the end of all things, so let’s hope he’s happy up there, and that Orion doesn’t chase the Pleiades away.
Orion bravely strides towards the Bull, but although he killed the scorpion that also killed him, he still fears it, and dreads its appearance fleeing west as the autumn wears on and Scorpius rises (Scorpio)
Orion in his eternal battle with Scorpius
The stand off between Orion and Taurus the Bull, its red eye, Aldebaran glaring at him, daring him to come nearer, does not fit the story of Orion, and a question has been raised in some quarters over the identity of Orion, and whether he has become confused with Herakles/Hercules at any time in his identification with this constellation.
The reasons are likely historical. The constellation as recognized by the Greeks originated with the Sumerians, who saw in it their great hero Gilgamesh fighting the Bull of Heaven whereas, as previously mentioned, the Sumerian name for Orion was URU AN-NA, meaning ‘light of heaven,’ and Taurus was GUD AN-NA, ‘bull of heaven’.
Gilgamesh was the Sumerian equivalent of Heracles, the greatest hero of Greek mythology, and one of the labours of Heracles was to catch the Cretan bull, but Orion was never in a fight with a bull. Heracles, it has been suggested, deserves a magnificent constellation such as this one, but has been consigned to a much more obscure area of sky.
The Sumerian story is older.
Orion and the Tarot
The Golden Tarot by Kat Black
The Tarot card most commonly associated with Orion is The Fool. The most numinous card in the deck, its element is Air and it is ruled by the planet of revolution, Uranus.
It is the portal of the number Zero. The Fool or as some called him, The Jester, is both beginnings and ending.
In a real life reading it may detect or forecast a birth of a child, or a new offer or a launch or opportunity of some kind. And change happens all the time but this is always major or significant in scope. But although is not associated with Death, unlike the famous Death card, it can mean a death too, representing infinity, the ouroboros.
An ouroboros
The Fool lives in the moment. He may be fun, he may be joy, or he may be frightening. There’s every reason a lot of people are scared of clowns as the living embodiment of The Fool. He represents the wisdom of innocence, or mistakes made through impulsiveness or ignorance rather than stupidity. But he may represent a threat, whether direct or existential, clearly sensed but not as yet clearly identifiable. The fear is visceral, not lightly to be dismissed.
He may be a shamanic, gnostic figure; the stranger, the outcast, the wise Fool or the Fool on the Hill. He dances to his own tune. He takes chances, risks, and sometimes these pay off, but sometimes he steps over the edge of the cliff, heedless of his dog’s most urgent warning.
The dog in the card is not biting the Fool, but desperately trying to get his attention. If someone asks the Tarot’s advice and then I draw this card reversed….someone needs to draw back from the precipice and look again before they leap.
I may bark like the Fool’s dog but will they act on this advice? CAN they? Will they even really hear it, let alone find a way to use it? We are who we are, and we do what we do, based on who we are. It is a rare person who can step back and see things anew once they are committed to Opinion A or B or they are emotionally invested in outcome A or B.
Advice, to be heard, must be sufficiently timely, before the paint dries.
Everywhere the Fool goes, his dog follows, just as Orion is followed in the skies by his two hunting dogs, Canis major and Canis minor. Sirius, the Dog Star is in the constellation of Canis Major and is THE brightest star in Earth’s night sky.
The only objects that outshine Sirius in our skies are the sun, moon, Venus, Jupiter, Mars and Mercury – and Sirius will usually outshine Mercury too.
All Mankind is Orion.
We were hunters at the dawn of man (The Fool) And gatherers too, but we were never gorillas, and never herbivores on our ancestral line.
“We were risen not of fallen angels but risen apes, and they were killer apes besides” – Robert Ardrey, in African Genesis.
Hunting was what brought us together in teams, then communities. Co operation meant compassion.
Fatboy Slim tells a version of that story here (except that we were apes but we did not evolve on the gorilla branch).
Watch out for Orion overhead in the final frame of the video.
I do not issue predictions of death. Never. Nor will any responsible psychic reader. We might well be wrong, but if we are not, who and what do we serve by sharing such a prediction?
This is not to say I will not discuss death with a client. I have seen it coming, looking in the cards. I have seen it when I did not wish to. I have seen it up to three years ahead of time. Once it was my father.
And I was not looking to see any such thing. But Death is part of Life.
Sometimes people want – need– to talk about it. Maybe they are preparing for a death they know is coming soon, to them or a loved one. Maybe they are dealing with probate. Maybe they want me to look at a dead loved one, act as a conduit using Tarot as a form of medium-ship. I have been asked, for example, if the dead loved one is OK, where are they now, and is there anything they would like to say?
The Tarot can do this, will talk this talk, walk this walk with them, if the reader is up for it. Some are, some are not.
The Death card, associated with autumn and the zodiac sign of Scorpio, is perhaps the most notorious card in the Tarot deck, but will usually not be detecting an actual physical death.
Usually it just means endings in a more everyday sense of the word. It signifies the natural conclusion to a situation, saying that we have come to the end of the road in respect of this or that. A situation has run its natural course. As such, this may actually be a welcome card. Some things, we are ready to see the back of.
From The Touchstone Tarot
Besides which, there are other cards that can also mean an actual, physical death: the Nine and Ten of Swords. The Fool card reversed (Number Zero, we go through the gate) The Sun card reversed (The sun has set, our day is done) may also, although rarely, refer to a literal, physical human death, or even a cremation.
When we are discussing someone who has died, there are no spirits present at the reading, not so far as I understand it. I am coming at that dead person via my sensing of the living person I am sitting with. Still, it has been quite astonishing to me, as well as the other person, what the cards have conveyed about the departed person that have been meaningful to the client, and that I could not possibly know. Turns of phrase, how it was for them, what they were like; those sorts of things.
Such is the Tarot. At its most acute, it is an enabler of downright telepathy. Or maybe something even more; an intimation of what we call the Divine, the Oneness of Everything.
“There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamed of in your philosophy.” – Hamlet- Shakespeare
Horatio (standing, dressed in red) with Hamlet in the “gravedigger scene” by Eugène Delacroix[
Yes, there are. There really are. I do not care who does not believe that. One feels it, encounters it directly, perceives it, apprehends it, or one does not.
Like Yoda, with these things there is no ‘try’. There is only do -or no do.
I like to test myself, and sometimes I lay out a spread for the coming day, to see what it ‘looks’ like, and then I look back and take stock that same evening or next day, to see what I can learn with the benefit of hindsight.
I did this two weeks ago, laying out a cross shaped spread of 5 cards like this:
In the position representing The Unexpected, I drew the Death card.
I studied the surrounding cards. These were health related cards, and included the Four of Swords. But the cards did not indicate any family members; an absence of tell-tale court cards or family cards, such as the Two, Six or Ten of Cups.
I said to Il Matrimonio, ‘today or tomorrow, I may hear news of a death, unexpected, but it’s not in our immediate circle, though I don’t think it’s something on the news either.’
People die every minute of course. That is a constant, but the Tarot will show me things that mean something to me personally. The Tarot is dealing at one and the same time with Universality and Particularity. Hacceity, and the unique or special ‘this-ness’ of a thing.
The next day, visiting one of my online places, a health clinic I used to visit, I read the very sad news that a lady I slightly knew, the former manager with whom I had had a few dealings, always very helpful, had died the previous day at 5 PM. after a week in hospital.
She was admitted with Covid. It was the reason for admission and she died of it. Leaving behind an utterly distraught daughter of 18, who had been excited to go off to University this autumn, and is now dealing with the funeral arrangements, and is left all alone in the world, so far as one can tell.
Enough of the conspiracy theories. This lady is not the only one I have personally known of to die before their time of this horrible new virus.
Yes, flu can kill you.
This is not flu. It is a truly freaky epithelial disease and may attack the cells anywhere in the body, not only the respiratory system. It is now wrecking the health of young people it does not kill. Hopefully not long term, but there are situations for which the ‘normal, healthy immune system’ is not prepared.
As I know to my personal cost. Something like this happened to me some time during my twenties. There was some ‘insult’ to the immune system, never conclusively identified, and it went on to cause me years of severe pain, and put me in a wheelchair from which I may never escape except in Death.
I was perfectly good health up until this mystery viral?Bacterial? event. I had always thought I had a perfectly normal immune system before this happened, in so far as I thought of it at all. I had no reason to imagine otherwise.
Astrologers suggest we will be stuck with this problem of virus management at least until 2023, on a crisis management basis. Best case scenario suggested by the cards is an improved collective footing by March-June 2022, in the UK at any rate.
Death is the darkest angel.
In evolutionary terms, Death was the price of our freedom. We could have stayed immortal, living as clones in the primordial seas, but we chose otherwise. We chose specialization of species. We, then at some further level ‘chose’ specialization of the individual as an unique entity.
We didn’t want to be gloop.
‘We’ did not want to be ‘immortal’ at the price of immortality experienced as identikit clonal single celled soup.
But space on Earth is not infinite. So we ‘chose’ individuality but the price was Death, The Hourglass, and the foreknowledge that our sands are fast running out.
It is suffering with no hope of reprieve, not Death, that is the enemy. Even though we might be nowhere near ready yet, to welcome our definitive meeting with this mightiest of rescuing angels, swooping by to collect us and carry us home to the Source where we came from, before memory.
Today is a New Moon in Leo, a moon phase of endings and beginnings. Kings and empires rise and fall, but to paraphrase Outro M38, ‘we are all the kings in our own land’…Facing tempest of dust/ I’ll fight on till the end/Creatures of my dreams/Raise up and dance with me/ Now and forever, I’m your king.’
No one needs any more doom-saying, but we all understand these are dangerous times. There is something deeply unsettled right now, says this Taurean subject born with a first quarter Moon in Leo. The astrology paints this New Moon in buoyant, passionate, Jupiterian terms, though with a potential for chaos. But a New Moon phase only last two and half days, while a rare and major Mars, Uranus and North Node in Taurus triple conjunction is approaching 31 July/1 August. This is a rare event, historically associated with major political, weather, explosive or seismic events. Such events may not occur precisely on these dates but are set in train by association with such a rare and volatile conjunction. More here from astrologer SJ Anderson
Mars is action, enterprise, initiative- or aggression. Uranus is innovation, revolution, upheaval, technology -and the unpredictable while “The North Node is an astrological point in space found by an axis,” says astrologer Arnus Arraut said. “This axis is found by the crossing of the orbit of the Moon around the Earth and the orbit of the Earth around the Sun. This axis is conformed by the north node and the south node. In this case, the north node is like a gateway, it’s like a door. So, by Mars and Uranus arriving at this astrological point, that acts like a door, and in Vedic astrology is known as the ‘head of the dragon,’ -hungry for knowledge and experiences.
The head of the dragon or snake is also called Rahu. It is ambition without restraint, a head with no body, and has no means to digest what it consumes, and in this conjunction the converging point of Mars, Uranus and this north node/Rahu is in the constellation of Taurus: world finances, agriculture and territory. Countries astrologically ruled by Taurus, just as a matter of incidental curiosity are Australia, Holland, Ireland, Ecuador, Israel, Japan (postwar), Tanzania.
Vedic astrology however correlates the approaching North Node conjunction with Aries, not Taurus- aggression.
Whatever manifests on terra firma, which may take months to become apparent, the only immediate practical takeaway from this rare triple conjunction during this year’s Leo season that is within our direct personal control, is for us to take a little extra care 31 July-1 August, and to be extra risk averse in respect of such activities as travel, speed, climbing or handling power tools.
Tarot cards: Strength, courage, pride, self-discipline, and The Sun, life, vitality, innocence, childhood
The Gilded Tarot Royale, Ciro MarchettiThe Sun card from The Golden Tarot
Minor Arcana cards are the 5,6,7 Wands.
Astronomy
Leo is the 12th largest, and one of the most easily recognizable constellations due to its many bright stars, and a distinctive shape suggesting a crouching lion, apparently facing right.
The bright light beneath Leo as seen in the photo below is planet Jupiter.
In the northern hemisphere, in the Spring is the best time to see the Lion, starting around the March equinox. By June, Leo is descending in the west in the evening, drifting westward, and by late July or early August, the Lion begins to fade into the sunset, returning to the eastern sky and visible before dawn around late September or October.
Look for the Big Dipper then look southwards, Leo is below the Big Dipper.
Leo’s brightest star, Regulus, The Royal Star, representing the heart of the lion; is a sparkling blue-white star at the bottom of the backwards question mark pattern. The star’s name, Regulus, means “little king” or “prince” in Latin and its Greek name, Basiliscos, has the same meaning. The Arabic name is Qalb al-Asad, which means “the heart of the lion.”
Mind boggling fact- Leo’s fifth largest star, Epsilon Leonis, 247 light years from Earth, is 288 times more luminous than the Sun, four times as massive, and with a solar radius 21 times bigger.
A triangle of stars in eastern Leo depict the Lion’s hindquarters and tail, the brightest, Denebola, Arabic, is the Lion’s Tail.
The Perseids
In 2022 the Perseid meteor showers are visible between 17 July and 24 August, the number of meteors increasing every night and peaking in mid-August, after which it will tail off. This year the peak falls on the night of the 12th and before dawn on 13 August. But this year’s full moon will affect the chances of seeing them in their full glory.
See the video below for more on the Perseids 2022, a presentation courtesy of Peter Detterline
The Leonids are the meteor showers associated with the constellation of Leo, coming from that direction around November 17-18 every year, and again in January; with a smaller shower peaking January 1 – 7.
There are 15 stars in Leo with 18 known planets between them, but none are thought to be habitable.
Leo the Lion has since ancient times been associated with the sun, and is ruled by the sun in astrology. Leo is one of the oldest constellations collectively recognized in the sky, with many ancient civilizations agreeing on perceiving it as a lion. Archaeological evidence suggests that Mesopotamians recognized a constellation similar to Leo as early as 4000 BC. The Persians knew the constellation as Shir or Ser. The Babylonians called it UR.GU.LA (“the great lion”), the Syrians knew it as Aryo, and the Turks as Aslan, a name familiar to so many from childhood readings of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.
The story goes that the ancient Egyptians venerated Leo because the sun shone in front of this constellation at the time of the annual flooding of the Nile River, the lifeblood of their agriculture -the lifeblood of the nation entire. Marking the end of drought, this flood shortly followed the arrival of desert lions at the river.
The lions had come to this stretch of the river out of need, driven closer to the city by the drought in the desert. Their appearance meant the worst was nearly over, the rains were on the way at last, and the Egyptians honoured the lion with festivals and today, their statues of these lions are still seen along the course of the Nile River.
It’s thought that the lion-headed fountains commonly designed by Greek and Roman architects equally symbolized the life-giving waters released by the sun’s presence in Leo.
Many stories are associated with Leo the Lion. A well known tale features the first labour of Hercules or Herakles- the killing of the Nemean Lion.
This terrifying lion lived in a cave in Nemea in Corinth. It was killing and eating the locals and several attempts had been made to kill it, but all had failed miserably. This lion had a supernaturally tough hide. No weapon seemed able to pierce it. Hercules surprised the lion in its cave, caught it napping, strangled it, and then rather disrespectfully, if pragmatically, skinned the body of the lion with its own claws, and wore its skin as a cloak, making himself even more ferocious in appearance- and now arrow-proof.
Astrology of Leo
This fixed sign is known for its pride, ambition and determination, warmth and generosity of spirit. But above all, Leo is known for bravery. Leo is represented in the Tarot by the “Strength” card, representing the divine expression of physical, mental, and emotional fortitude, which is a virtue.
Courage takes many forms. There is the courage of proceeding in the face of fear, “feeling the fear and doing it anyway.” Then there is moral courage, the courage to endure, the discipline of damage limitation, and the fortitude that quietly says to itself, “tomorrow I will try again”.
An eternal optimist, tough, the golden Leo can have a dark streak, and can be their own worst enemy; loud, reckless, self-centred, headstrong and careless. For these reasons, unless they can learn patience, consideration and self-control, they are not necessarily always as lucky in life as their promise deserves.
Leo is the sign of childhood- and childhood’s end.
“Even the upper end of the river believes in the ocean.”-said William Stafford.
But even if it doesn’t, that’s where it’s going anyway. Slowing, broadening and deepening as it goes. Like us, if we get the chance, if we are given the time. And the closer we get to the ocean, the less we strive, the more we carry, the more we reflect and the less we hurry.
Like The Hermit, who walks alone in the wild places, following a far-off light, or answering the ancient drum beat. The Hermit is feeling the weight of his years and experience but casts his own light all the same. He/she withdraws more from society, but the wild creatures draw near and cautiously welcome The Hermit home. He – us- humankind of the modern world left their path many years ago, branching away from the path of the wild.
The Hermit is airy Mercury in earthy Virgo; watchful, enquiring, creative but analytical, self-disciplined, seemingly aloof yet approachable,with a quiet warmth.
William Stafford died aged 79 at his home in Virgo Season, Lake Oswego, Oregon on 28 August, 1993. The morning of his death, he had written a poem containing the lines, “‘You don’t have to / prove anything,’ my mother said. ‘Just be ready / for what God sends.’
Ask Me
Some time when the river is ice ask me mistakes I have made. Ask me whether what I have done is my life. Others have come in their slow way into my thought, and some have tried to help or to hurt: ask me what difference their strongest love or hate has made.
I will listen to what you say. You and I can turn and look at the silent river and wait.
We know the current is there, hidden; and there are comings and goings from miles away that hold the stillness exactly before us. What the river says, that is what I say.
“The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.”― Plutarch
There is what Life does to us. There is how we respond. But first there was always who we were to begin with, and the ways we are still becoming it.
Tabula rasa is the theory that individuals are born without built-in mental content, and therefore all knowledge comes from experience or perception. Epistemological proponents of tabula rasa disagree with the doctrine of innatism, which holds that the mind is born already in possession of certain knowledge. Wikipedia
Here comes spring in the northern hemisphere. The spring of vernal equinox officially occurred today, 20 March 2022. Today we enter the turf of Aries the Ram, marking the beginning of the new astrological year in Western (Tropical) astrology.
Common Associations
Symbol:
Date of Birth: variable 21 March to 20 April
Ruling planet: Mars
Lucky Day: Tuesday
Energy: Yang (Masculine/Extrovert)
Element:Fire
Quality: Cardinal (the start of the season of spring)
Major Arcana Tarot Card: Major Arcana: The Emperor (Masculinity, Fatherhood, Government, Law and Order, Courage, Stability)
Image from The Legacy of the Divine Tarot, illustrator Ciro Marchetti
From The Legacy of the Divine Tarot, Ciro Marchetti
The Tarot court card correlating with Aries is the Queen of Wands. Note the sunflowers and royal lions on her throne, and the black cat, considered lucky. The Queen of Wands is a warm, kindly but shrewd, capable and insightful figure.
The Minor arcana cards associated the cardinal sign Aries are the 2, 3 and 4 of Wands.
The 2 of Wands, ambition, global trade, agreements, career choices, direction, partnerships.
The 3 of Wands, making ready to launch a ‘ship’, or a ship comes in, trade, export, new horizons, exploration, but the timing and the planning has to be right. No rushing this. No cutting corners.
The 4 of Wands: a house becomes a home, a business puts down solid foundations, professional achievements, qualifications.
Astronomy
Aries is a small, rather dim constellation in the Northern Hemisphere between Pisces to its west and Taurus to its east.Imagine the Ram sitting with his head pointing downwards.
The constellation of Aries via Wiki
The brightest star in Aries is Alpha Arietis, or Hamal, from the Arabic Al Ras al Hamal, ‘the Head of the Sheep.’ Hamal is the third star up from the bottom, a red giant with a magnitude of 2.0, and is visible to the naked eye, shining about as brightly as Mars when the planet is at its farthest point from Earth.
Below Hamal, the two bottom stars in the photograph are the stars Beta Arietis, also called Sheratan, a blue-white star, and Gamma Arietis, also called Mesarthim, a whitish binary star with two components. These are the horns of the Ram, and their names mean the Two Signs, meaning these ‘horns’ were seen as the two first signs of spring.
The three stars of the Head of the Ram are the stars to look out for, especially December around 9 p.m. local time, seen rising in the east. December is an especially good month for viewing Aries, when the Earth is on the other side of the sun .
During spring in the Northern Hemisphere or autumn in the Southern Hemisphere autumn is the worst time of year; Aries is lost in the glare of the sun. In late October, Aries rises in the east at sunset, reaches its highest point in the sky at midnight and sets in the west at sunrise.
Aries reaches its highest point in the sky – at about 10 p.m. local time (the time in all time zones) in late November, 8 p.m. local time in late December and 6 p.m. local time in late January.
The spring equinox was a time of renewal throughout the northern half of Earth, an event of great significance to people who were much more aware than we are nowadays, of the direct human dependence for survival on the earth and its produce, land, weather and sky.
Aries marked the main lambing season of wild sheep in Europe, 21 March – 20 April. The lambing season extended with agricultural husbandry.
The Sumerians
Sumeria is one of the oldest known urban civilizations in what is now called Southern Iraq, during the Neolithic-Bronze Age, 4500 BC to 1500 years BC. The ancient Sumerians called the sun, Subat, meaning the Ancient Sheep or Ram and the planets were the Celestial Herd.
The Egyptians
In ancient Egyptian astronomy, the constellation known to us as Aries was called ‘Lord of the Head’, referring to its symbolic significance, and it was associated with the sun god Amon-Ra, who was depicted as a man with a ram’s head and represented fertility and creativity. Because it was the astronomical location of the spring (vernal) equinox, it was called the ‘Indicator of the Reborn Sun’. Sources suggest the position of Aries at the zenith coincided with the rising of Sirius in the east and flooding of the Nile.
The Greeks
To the Sumerians, the stars of Aries were a herdsman. Aries was not fully recognized as a constellation until classical times when the ancient Greeks from about 1580 B.C. to 360 B.C. oriented the construction of many of their sacred temples to line them up with the star Hamal.
In Hellenistic astrology, the constellation of Aries was associated with the golden ram of Greek mythology that rescued Phrixus and Helle.
The brother and sister, Phrixus and Helle were the children of the Boeotian king Athamas and the cloud fairy, Nephele. But Nephele died, the king remarried, and his new wife, Ino, feared and hated them as a perceived threat to her own two children by the king, and planned to have them done away with.
They were warned and fled, rescued by a flying golden ram sent by Hermes at the plea of the dead Nephele, watching in anguish from the other world, but poor Helle fell into the sea below and was lost in the Dardanelles, named the Hellespont in her honour. Later, safely in Colchis, Phrixus (rather ungratefully?) sacrificed the Golden Ram, as a way of returning it home to the gods, and presented its fleece as a gift to King Aeetes, who placed it on a tree in a grove under the guard of a terrible dragon, the hideous Hydra, whom Jason later killed in order to steal the magical healing fleece.
Christianity
Founded in a society and at a latitude where ‘shepherds watched their flocks by night’…with a clear view of the night skies much of the year round, Aries speaks of God as The Shepherd, and Jesus as The Lamb of God.
Astrology deals in terms of archetypes, meaning a very typical example of a particular thing, person or situation. Of course there is no such thing in reality as THE Aries personality and the same goes for all the zodiac sun signs. Your sun sign is an archetype, a keynote, but it is not your full astrological portrait. We are all unique and it could never be the whole story.
But the archetypes did not come into being for no reason. You don’t mess lightly with The Ram. Aries is number one, the first sign in the Zodiac year, youthful and exuberant. But it is also the sign of a king, and not only that, but a warrior-king, as illustrated in the watchful, slightly weary, Emperor card in the Rider-Waite Tarot, ready armoured, always on guard. Note the Ram’s heads decorating his throne.
Aries is ultra-virile, with a warrior spirit, just as a ram will charge headlong at an intruder, and may even kill a person who enters his field, threatening his ewes and his territory at the wrong moment.
Aries is known for its determination and zest for life, and in the same spirit, Aries can be reckless and with it, accident prone in its general haste to get on and do whatever is the next thing. Aries are at a statistically increased risk of road accidents, in particular with head and neck injuries in comparison with other zodiac signs, and must beware of impatience leading to risk-taking behaviours.
Aries is ready to experiment or pioneer but may not finish what it starts. They are determined but run on a short fuse, and can be sabotaged by their own impatience if they don’t get quick results.
Aries subjects may exhibit careless or even ruthless behaviour with a disregard for others in their desire to achieve and excel. They can bear grudges but, though sensitive themselves, and occasionally a touch too quick to take offense, they are prone to be careless about the sensitivities of others.
However, in their personal relationships Aries are lively, affectionate, pleasant, frank, direct and generous. Full of bounce and joie de vivre, there is much to like and admire about the early springtime subjects of fiery Aries, the Mighty Ram.
Famous Aries in history
The Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne. Oh wow. Now there is a surprise. I mean, look at him for goodness sake…..
Chartres cathedral window, early 13 th century, photo by Vassil
Most of us know our zodiac sign but what does it look like in the night sky, and what’s the story behind it? Let’s get better acquainted with Pisces.
Common associations
Symbol:
Zodiac Sign placement: 12th and last sign, completing the wheel of the zodiac year
Date of Birth: 18/19 Feb to 20/21 March. Variable cusp depending on the leap year cycle
Ruling planet: Neptune (before Neptune’s official discovery in 1846 it was Jupiter)
Element: Water
Quality: Mutable – versatile, the ending of one season and the beginning of another
Lucky Days: Monday and Thursday
Energy: Yin -receptive
Key phrase: I believe (as in the ‘Fishers of men’, early Christianity adopted a fish as its symbol)
Body: Feet, eyes, bladder
Birth Stone: Aquamarine especially, but also amethyst, ruby, bloodstone and jasper. Brazil is one of the best sources for this stone. Aquamarine (meaning ‘the water of the sea’) is a blue variety of beryl where Emerald is a green beryl. The aquamarine is a hexagonal crystal structure, sometimes confused with blue topaz, and was traditionally believed to enhance foresight and clairvoyance, and a sense of happiness, with the power to repel evil – or help you talk to the Devil (I wouldn’t give the bugger the time of day, personally)
Aquamarine-Wiki
Tarot card: The Moon
Meanings: The Moon, literally, Mondays, tides, cycles, ebb and flow, feminine cycles, fertility, instinct, wildlife, walking on the wild side, hunting, fishing, visionary capabilities, psychics, ghosts, visions, dreams, delusions, madness, contamination, fever, food poisoning, uncertainty, danger, confusions with documentation, risks in travel.
The Gilded Tarot Royale, artist Ciro Marchetti
Note the wolves, hunting and howling by the light of the full moon, and the spawning crab, though this is often depicted as a crayfish instead, as in the Rider -Waite decks.
The minor arcana cards associated with Pisces are the 8, 9 and 10 Cups, ranging in interpretation from the melancholy to the sublime.
The 8 of Cups says you were ready to offer devotion. A door stayed shut, but you have learned something of value, not least about where you belong. Do not wait overlong outside any door that fails to open. The world is wide, new horizons beckon. Walk away, not looking back in anger.
The 9 of Cups is truth, grace, happiness-the Grail, and heart-felt wishes may be granted
The 10 of Cups is home sweet home, arrival.
The Astronomy
There are 88 constellations registered with NASA. The 12 of these that have given their names to the zodiac signs in Western ( Tropical astrology) have their earliest known origins in the ancient Indo-European civilizations located at the latitude 36 degrees north and 30 minutes.
Other constellations were named later, many of these later ones by Greek navigators.
Pisces, the Latin plural of fish, is a large but rather faint constellation, the 14th largest constellation overall, covering a large V shaped region in the part of the sky known as The Sea or The Water, possibly named by the Mesopotamians because they had learned to associate the appearance overhead of these heavenly bodies with their rainy seasons; Aquarius, Capricornus (the Mer-Goat).
Capricorn signifies the ibex and its mating season which starts in December, but it also has an ancient Sumerian origin story associated with it, where the goats came out of the sea to climb to the mountains, leaving behind the father of all the goats, a solitary mer-goat who was promoted to the skies.
So these three zodiac signs, Capricorn Aquarius and Pisces may have come to represent predictive seasonal co-ordinates for the rainy months at the thirty sixth Parallel, 36 and half degrees north.
The vernal equinox currently occurs during Pisces, 19-21 March, the astronomical marker of the start of spring.
Pisces is represented as two fish swimming at right angles to each other, one to the north and one to the west and attached by a cord and are usually depicted as koi.
Its stars are faint — none brighter than fourth magnitude — and hard to see with the naked eye. But its brightest star, Eta Piscium, also known as Alpherg or Kullat Nunu, is a bright giant star (G class) 294 light-years from Earth and has a luminosity 316 times greater that of the sun.
Kullat Nunu is its Babylonian name. ‘Nunu’ means ‘fish’ and ‘kullat’ is a bucket.
Pisces second brightest star is a yellow giant about 130 light-years from Earth, Gamma Piscium. Alpha Piscium is the third brightest star in Pisces, and is made up of a pair of white dwarf stars in close proximity. Its other name is Alrescha (“the cord.”) and marks the spot where it appears that the tails of the two fish are joined or tied together.
The best time to see Pisces in the Northern Hemisphere is 9 PM between 6-9 November looking below the Square of Pegasus.
History and Mythology
The first spawning of most freshwater fish starts in the spring, from late March onward, but, depending on latitude and therefore temperature, some species may spawn from as soon as late February onward, and in the warmer Indus, this surely played its part in the rationale for the astronomical calendar slot historically allocated to Pisces the heavenly fish.
Pisces represents the principle of THE THAW, THE MELT. Fish may rise again to the top to feed. Frogs and Toads will spawn.
If you want to insult a Pisces subject, call them a MELT (but first, ask yourself if you are really sure about this.)
The fish of Pisces are attached by a cord of stars, just as life and death are conjoined and cannot be separated. Pisces is not only the last sign of winter, moving into spring; it is the last sign of the whole zodiac year, the culmination of all the signs that came before it.
The western signs of the zodiac are thought to origin from about 2900-2700 BC, emerging among the peoples living at 36 and a half degrees latitude. The 36th Parallel.
This latitude was the cradle of Indo-European civilization (you will also see that the 36 Parallel was of key symbolic significance to the American Civil War) Younger, later constellations that were not adopted as zodiac signs were often named for maritime navigational purposes, many of them by the Greeks.
The Egyptians
“It (Pisces) is one of the earliest zodiac signs on record, with the two fish appearing as far back as c. 2300 BC on an Egyptian coffin lid ” -(Wiki)
The two fish of the constellation Pisces were the offspring of the Great Fish. In Egyptian mythology, this fish saved the life of the Egyptian goddess Isis and she placed this fish and its descendants into the heavens as a star constellation.
India
In Hindu mythology Matsya is an manifestation or avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu the Preserver who rescued the first man, Manu from a great deluge. (…and here we are again, back to the great flood stories of Aquarius) The Matsya may be depicted as a giant golden fish or as a merman, half- fish half humanoid Lord Vishnu.
Vishnu is the second god in the Hindu holy trinity (Trimurti) This triumvirate consists of three gods who are responsible for the creation, upkeep and destruction of the world, Brahma was the Maker,god of creation and passion, Vishnu, the face of light and preservation, and Shiva, the face of the dark, and destruction.
Wiki
Greece
Pisces is often represented as a pair of koi carp. and the reason for this comes from Greek mythology. To the ancient Greeks, the fish were the goddess Aphrodite and her son, Eros, who were out walking by the Euphrates one day when a terrible monster, Typhon, suddenly rose up out of the water.
This monster had been terrorizing the gods of Olympus ever since the war with the Titans. Typhon was a Titan, a son of Gaia, and he hated the gods of Olympus as invaders and upstarts, the new kids of the block who had overthrown and dispossessed his own, more ancient race of Titans. He was as tall as the heavens and his eyes shot flames. Instead of fingers, he had 100 dragon’s heads sprouting from his hands -for which one could read ‘flames’ or magma.
None of the Olympians had the power to destroy Typhon, or confront him, not alone. For a time, all they could do was avoid him or flee for their lives, which they often did by transforming themselves into animals, and Aphrodite and Eros, in this case, transformed themselves into two fish (koi) and swam away.
The work of John Flamsteed the first Astronomer Royal. Image from the Atlas Coelestis, posthumously published by John Flamsteed, 1729, illustrator John Thornhill.
Ultimately, Zeus imprisoned the terrible Typhon beneath Mount Etna…but Zeus didn’t deal with him for good. He couldn’t, not even Zeus, and Typhon is still very alive down there and pretty disgruntled. A deeply alarming spectacle, as we have seen on the news these last few days, as of 16 February 2021 and there have been a number of related astrological and psychic prognostications, talking about such seismic activity as a potentially major global influence in 2021.
Rome and Early Christianity
Early Christians used the Fish as a symbol of their faith…and called the TWELVE apostles of Christ the Fishers of Men (Pisces as the twelfth sign.
The secret code name for Jesus- Yeshua Ben Joseph- was Ichthys
The so- called Age of Pisces began 1 AD and- depending on your source, will end in 2150 when we enter the so-called Age of Aquarius, though some astrologers say we are already in that Age. The Age of Pisces saw the rise of the Monotheistic religions, Christianity and Islam. The Age of Aquarius is supposedly a secular age, all about technology and collectivism.
But religion shows no sign of going away. Islam is currently on the rise in the west, Christianity on the wane, with vacuums filled by socio-political ideological transmutations of the religious instinct, and in another two thousand or so years, it will be succeeded by another ‘earthy’ chapter – a new Age of Capricorn. (This thing works ‘retrograde’, working backwards through the zodiac signs)
Pisces: The Astrological Personality
From The Golden Tarot, by Kat Black
In Tarot, whether the subject is male of female, Pisces is embodied as The Knight of Cups. In Arthurian legend this would be Sir Percival or in later versions of the legend, Sir Galahad. This knight is a champion of the underdog, a protector, a lover, a bearer of grace and the healing chalice.
In a Tarot reading this generally translates as a happy situation, a new friend, an admirer, possibly a marriage proposal, news of a baby on the way, or a job offer or other good news is coming soon, and your cup ‘runneth over’.
Of course there is no such thing in reality as THE Pisces personality and the same goes for all the zodiac sun signs. Your sun sign is an archetype, a keynote, but of course it is not, and never could be the whole story, least of all in astrology. There is far more than just the sun sign in your own personal chart. You can find this out for yourself by looking up your own chart free online (obviously just be careful re spam etc).
Pisces combines imagination with the determination of a salmon fighting upriver, although, depending on the decanate, there may a certain quite marked passivity, even inertia. This may actually serve them very well at times, but could in some cases degenerate into darkness involving depression, alcohol or other substance misuse.
These individuals are talented natural artists, writers or musicians. They are famously loyal once committed, compassionate and sensitive. They adapt with ease, are spontaneous and full of surprises, but while their steel may be hidden, all the same, it is there. Not much is said about this scaly Pisces steel. They can be tough, even hard in a quiet way. They may not say much but watch the face harden, and cross the line once too often, you are gone, and that is it.
Where they demonstrate a lack of proper consideration for others, or undue stubbornness, it is not due to lack of goodwill, but they are not paying attention, too focused on their inner preoccupations.
Pisces needs variety, and structure must allow them room for a degree of autonomy. Desk based work, although Pisces can certainly do it, is not really their thing.
Pisces can make excellent and approachable team leaders with a reputation for loyalty to their staff. Passing the buck is not their style. They will take on injustice, take on those senior in status, but Pisces, unlike, say Aquarius, acts on an individual basis. Group actions, campaigns or crusades do not sit with their temperament, except just possibly for early Pisces, born on the Aquarius cusp. Later subjects, born close to the Aries cusp 20/21 April, are very much the ‘doers’ of Pisces.
Pisces is as brave as it is kind but these water sign denizens need to guard their physical energy. It can be erratic, and once depleted, is not always easily restored. If they are prone to headaches at the back of the head, there may be related bladder infections or other issues.
The Decans of Pisces
Each zodiac sign contains three decans, blocks of ten days or so, each with a different planetary ruler.
Pisces Decan 1 February 19 to February 28 (approximately) is ruled by Neptune. Those born within this decan will present as typical Pisces. Seldom aggressive or offensive, they conduct themselves with kindness and courtesy and very reasonably expect the same in return. Neptune, planet of illusion, is both their ruler and sub-ruler, emphasizing their imaginative capabilities. Pisces-Pisces readily connects with other people on an unconscious level, almost as if hearing what they are thinking, and able to anticipate their next moves, but they are likely to take a lot of detours before finding their own sense of direction. Tarot card: The Eight of Cups
Pisces Decan 2 March 1 to March 10 (approximately) The sub-influences for this decan are Cancer/MOON. Cancer – natural ruler of the fourth house of home base, family, and security – may keep them very close to family members, whether this is a positive or negative influence. They often bear a striking physical resemblance to a parent and may struggle to loosen break parental ties and become independent, but they must, if they are to develop their own potential, and often they are warm, well- balanced emotionally, cultured, artistically gifted, with charm and a keen sense of humour, from the zany to the dark or possible ingenious. They need plenty of quiet time alone. Tarot card: The Nine of Cups
Pisces Decan 3 March 11-March 20. A thinker, possibly even a visionary, the very last decan of all in the wheel of the zodiac year is a FINISHER. They are energetic, symbolized by the Mars influence on Scorpio.Pisces-Scorpio has an intensely practical side and often well-developed technical or scientific skills. They need activities, outlets for their physical energy and it matters a lot to them helping other people. This decan is considered fated to an unusual degree, and one day a calling may come to them in the form of a great challenge. Tarot card: The Ten of Cups
Famous Pisces in history
Michelangelo, Amerigo Vespucci, Copernicus, Vivaldi, Handel, George Washington, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Albert Einstein, Nat King Cole, Elizabeth Taylor, Nina Simone, Harold Wilson, Yuri Gagarin, Sidney Poitier, Steve Irwin.
I am running late with this Tarot reading, done 24 January, looking ahead at February but with no particular question, just fishing in the ether.
I felt drawn to pull two cards for February, and drew The Ten of Pentacles (Reversed) and The Eight of Cups from the Rider-Waite Deck.
Noah’s Ark in shown here in reference to another recent reading which mentioned precipitation, and the risk of flooding in the UK during February. This is nothing unusual for February, though some years are worse than others. February starts with Aquarius and ends with Pisces, and the Babylonians called Aquarius ‘the curse of rain,’ -or in northern latitudes, rain or snow.
Il Matrimonio took this pic of the heron on a nearby pond, while Junior Sprog’s young fellow, Carpenter Henry, is in mourning for his beloved koi carp, which last week disappeared from the garden pond of their rental cottage, presumed dead, prey to their own hungry heron.
Back to the Tarot.
The Ten of Pentacles (Reversed)
From The Rider Waite Tarot
Keywords: Homeland, Family, Home, Money, Family Tree, Legacies, Continuity, Heritage, Family Business, Family Gatherings/Events/Celebrations, Businesses, Old Age
This card drawn reversed highlights particular challenges to do with these areas during the month of February 2021, from government level to an individual level.
The Ten of Pentacles is an earth suit card, to do with everything that we most need, value and treasure: security, belonging, homeland and the family home, money and inheritance, cultural heritage, wills, bequests and legacies of all kinds, financial, cultural, physical, and even genetic. So your middle name was given to you in memory of your great-grandfather? That’s the Ten of Pentacles. So, people say that you have your mother’s eyes? That’s the Ten of Pentacles.
It is the card of architecture, in every sense of the word, and the inter-generational relationships which make the bedrock of society.
In terms of planets and timings, the Ten of Pentacles correlates with the zodiac sign Virgo, and is ruled by Mercury, planet of communications, trade and travel, all of which continue to present a challenge during February 2021.
Late spring, late summer and late autumn look like the generally optimal months in 2021.
2020 was a dark year. 2021 does look brighter and better as Jupiter pulls away from Pluto, planet of the Underworld, but still, we all see there are major hurdles as the world’s governments struggle with a second wave of covid, and according to the Tarot, this may peak, or have passed its peak around 21 February in the UK.
This card of financial governance reflects the challenge of many Governments in raising or borrowing the finances to support their respective economies through this time of severely reduced economic activity. The Tarot has previously indicated to me that the global economy will recover perhaps surprisingly quickly, by or before early 2023. If only enough smaller businesses survive, not to have the giants ruling the roost any more than they do already.
History suggests global pandemics in general have been something of a once in a century phenomenon, and have tended to last between 1-3 years, and it is travel by ships, trains and planes which have carried them ever more swiftly around the world. Plane hopping = zero chance of eradication. And this is SARS, not flu.
Significantly, the Ten of Pentacles has been drawn reversed -upside- down – for February.
This puts the card in its less positive light, reflecting not only the extraordinary struggle of governments in so many countries, but at a personal and family level, the ongoing struggles of those small or family owned businesses, and the anxiety and frustrations of so many individuals and families unable to meet during lockdown measures.
This second wave has overtaken the first wave in terms of mortality. The UK second wave may possibly pass, or have recently passed peak mortality during February, after which, things will turn a corner again, and the new challenge is to keep that R rate down. I was unduly optimistic last year, and perhaps I am something of a glass half-full person and I need to watch that potential for bias. But right or wrong, the cards I get are the cards I get, no conscious control. That’s the entire point of this kind of exercise, and that’s the nature of this beast.
I was accurate in respect of timings in the UK, forecasting the end of the first wave and the release of that lock-down, but detected the risk of a significant second wave as roughly fifty- fifty or lower. Badly underestimated that one!
Good job I didn’t work for the Emperor Tiberius. He’d have had me chucked off the cliffs in Capri.
Astrology of The Ten of Pentacles
The Ten of Pentacles is ruled by Virgo, the Zodiac House of Health, which in turn is ruled by Mercury. This planet went retrograde 30 January and stays retrograde until 21 February, symbolically making this a time when misunderstandings may quickly arise, and making this a good time to rethink a few things, not only in respect of paying close attention to health and hygiene, but to be extra risk averse and vigilant in checking arrangements and information, for example, double- checking appointment times, important paperwork or travel plans, especially around 17 February when there may be an extra risk of (probably minor) mishaps.
Virgo is famously detail focused, very, and warns us not to relax our guard with things like distancing and frequent hand-washing, even though people may be, very naturally, fed up to the back teeth of hearing it.
Like that rock and roll classic by The Coasters, 1958
‘Yakety Yak.’
Take out the papers and the trash Or you don’t get no spendin’ cash If you don’t scrub that kitchen floor You ain’t gonna rock and roll no more Yakety yak (don’t talk back)Just finish cleanin’ up your room Let’s see that dust fly with that broom Get all that garbage out of sight Or you don’t go out Friday night Yakety yak (Don’t talk back)You just put on your coat and hat And walk yourself to the laundromat And when you finish doin’ that Bring in the dog and put out the cat Yakety yak (Don’t talk back) – Source: LyricFind
But the Roman Goddess HYGEIA is associated with Virgo, so there we have it.
Hygeia says ‘Yakety yak!’
(Don’t talk back.)
Hygeia
We want to protect our elders, but neither do we want to leave them lonely, afraid and isolated. This is a challenge highlighted by the Ten of Pentacles but this card reminds us, old age has value. Even as they may need our help, our older people can help and support us too,. They are not to be patronized as charity cases. They have many things to share and to teach, things seen and learned in their lived experience. Things understood.
RIP Captain Tom.
The Eight of Cups
From The Ride-Waite Tarot
Keywords: moral courage, emotional courage, walking away, sadness, acceptance, resignation, disappointment, decisions, and hard lessons learned.
This card is about saying goodbye, and walking away. It’s about the things we leave behind; the people, the places, the situations, maybe even hopes and dreams that no longer mean what they used to. Maybe we have lost interest.
Donald Trump has left The White House. The UK has left the EU. They will not return. It seems unlikely that Donald Trump will want to run again for President in four years time, even assuming that the option will exist, which looks increasingly unlikely. Britain has much hard work ahead, but is setting her face firmly to the future and will not rejoin the EU under a future UK government. The showing of teeth in the recent near debacle in respect of the Northern Ireland border only makes that possibility less likely.
Astrology of The Eight of Cups
In terms of astrology and timing, the Eight of Cups correlates with the first decan of the zodiac sign of Pisces, February 19 to March 20.
Pisces, previously ruled by Jupiter, is nowadays largely considered as ruled by psychic, dreamy planet Neptune, identified as a planet in 1846.
This card is suggesting a calmer, gentler closing to the month. For many, there will be intense, vivid dreams and perhaps powerful religious or even psychic experiences.
22 Feb Update: I had such an experience during the night 18 Feb. I woke and reached for the water beside the bed, saw a grey glow to my right, and turned and saw an vaguely human like apparition. It was looking at me and the face was not pleasant, though it faded almost at once. I got a bit of a scare and prepared myself for worrying news in the coming days. The ‘explanation’ came within 2 days, a close family member in distress.
Or paranoia. Oh yes. There is plenty of that about, blooming nicely.
The virus too, is fighting for its life, and it does not do negotation of timetables, but month by month we draw nearer to the inevitable end of this pandemic situation, and spring is nearly here. The snowdrops are long since out already.
The Ace of Cups (summer solstice) and the King of Wands signal a return to much greater normality by or before Leo –late July-late August. More about that in a minute.
I’m still keeping my own travel plans inside in the UK this year regardless of progress, on the principle of not making oneself a hostage to fortune- and there speaks my Virgo ascendant, yakety yak.
The Chinese (Lunar) New Year
12 February – 31 January, 2022
In Chinese and other Far Eastern Asian astrology traditions, the Lunar New Year 2021 brings the Year of the Metal Ox, also called the Gold Ox; a Yin quality sign, receptive and inward.
The powerful Ox is practical, productive, traditional, hardworking, dutiful and orderly, placid unless provoked too far. (And really, why would any sensible person want to provoke it?)
We think of Bull markets. The Stock Markets could do better than expected in February.
The Ox represents you and me, the so-called ordinary citizen, the family person, and the working public.
This Chinese zodiac Sign has a lot in common with the ideas embodied in the family-minded, industrious, traditional Ten of Pentacles.
You were born in the year of the Ox if you were born in 1925, 1937, 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997 or 2009.
The Metal Ox and Health
The Metal Ox is especially associated with the lungs, which could be taken as a lucky sign, a good omen for the easing of this second wave of the pandemic by around 12 February.
The Ox says ‘small is beautiful’, and local is best for quality when it comes to fresh foods. The Ten of Pentacles suggests we support small, local family businesses and farmer’s cooperatives as much as possible during the lockdown, to preserve as many of these vital businesses as we can, who may otherwise be forced to shut up their shops and walk away, like the figure in the Eight of Cups.
The Ox is slow, but strong and surefooted.
Tweeted 19 January
#Tarot when will Cov Sars 2 be sufficiently under control for UK to ‘reopen.’ Issue: Strength card=benchmark. Winter now (Ace Coins) Struggle till after Pisces (late Feb/late March) Then 2 wave MAY have peaked & situation grad improves. King of Wands/Leo/July=Strength returns
From The Legacy of The Divine Tarot, Ciro Marchetti
Sod’s Law says I am now erring on the side of caution, and it will happen far sooner, or begin to. And it almost certainly will, big style, from late March onward (that Piscean Eight of Cups)
The King of Wands is the king of 23 July-22 August. He is THE King of Speed, Movement, PR and Travel, ruled by big, buoyant planet Jupiter.
True Tarot Tales 