Solunars by Aldebaran Sidereal Academy

Based on feedback, I'm going to keep this going another month. Here goes!

t Venus will ssq. r Saturn this evening. That's during class, so I'm not sure quite how that will work out, though it may have more to do with the day over all.

In the experimental category, today is t Jupiter conjunct r Ceres exactly.

As many of you know, Solunars.com was down for most of the last 24 hours, beginning a few hours after my new SLR (which certainly shows accidents and adventures). For those who know about such things, an phpBB extension (from the standard, vetted list of extensions on the phpBB site) broke everything when I enabled it. I spent a couple of hours on the phone with the web host's support team (they're great!) but there was nothing they could do to directly repair it, so I paid to have them restore the forum files and data base from a snapshot taken yesterday.

There is a little bit of the Venus-Saturn in that - a little glum and concern but no deep concern (at most I was going to lose two or three days to rebuild everything and restore it from my own backup of two weeks ago). Venus-Saturn traits like conscientious etc.

But the Jupiter-Ceres is quite fascinating, too! Whether one takes it simply as service-themed work or the "nurturing" theme many try to attribute to it, this does seem like great success from (what might be) Ceres-themed behavior.

NEXT DAY: There was really nothing major that matches the Venus transit to Saturn. I suppose it's related to the site reconstruction, which had a minor emotional reaction (I knew I'd get all or most of it back) and a sense of (I suppose) conscientious duty.

The Jupiter conjunction with Ceres is interesting, though - different aspects of the site crash/recovery. Class began last night with Jupiter on MC and went unusually well (or, at least, from my side it did ).

A lot of stuff today. Only one is experimental, and that one, in theory, shouldn't be controversial among Siderealists. The main transits are:

t Venus conj. r EP
t Venus conj. s Venus
t Sun sq. r Saturn, ssq. s Venus

Sun and Venus have been travelling about 45° apart and hitting planets more or less concurrently. If you loop in yesterday's Venus to natal Saturn, the two days mark Sun and Venus to natal Saturn and solar Venus. Transiting Venus grabs the angle today and shifts the focus to Venus overall. (We're going to an art opening tonight - one of Marion's friends - so there will at least be that.)

The one experimental item is t Mercury ssq. PSSR Moon. That shouldn't be controversial, but, despite Fagan's passionate arguments, we don't have a strong case (or strong record) for PSSR Moon transits. Not sure how I'll tell if this particular one "works" since I always have very mercurial days.

OUTCME: Wow, this day didn't go as expected at all. - First, we didn't go to the art opening (Marion was feeling ill and we begged off), so the obvious Venus element didn't pay off. Then, before and after that, there were a number of things that varied between emotionally uncomfortable and sadly painful (interactions with various people). If the Venus-Saturn were still in orb, it would all make sense, but it isn't. I can lay it all on Sun to a Venus and a Saturn at the same time, but it's not the way I expected them to parse.

Oh, wait... why didn't I take that into consideration? I'm less than a day from transiting Saturn opposite SQ Moon, and it's only minutes away. That trumped everything today.

Transiting Saturn is exactly opposite SQ Moon. That's the big one.

On a different note, t Venus squares my natal MC.

Experimentally, with transiting Jupiter only a couple of days past conjunction with natal Ceres, transiting Ceres is ssq. solar Jupiter.

OUTCOME (8 AM Update): Yes, this Saturn transit exactly opposite SQ Moon is (as one might expect) dominating these several days. It's about a week coming and going, within 1° July 23 to August 9, and exact today (August 3), so it's had its hand on the brief time of being sick, this week's site crash - but especially strong yesterday, today, probably tomorrow and masking the routinely nice Venus transits. I awoke this morning in a negative mood - I can see how mood and habitual patterns of response are being affected, and how that frames and organizes reality ("events"). For example, there are unusual concerns about financial security, even though there is no more threat to that than usual. The distinctly lunar side is being affected: habitual reactions, an instinct for wanting to be taken care of where I never expect that and to be coddled a little, mostly for the sense of comfort and security (basically, external behavior as a security blanket). That sort of thing. I need to be more on top of witnessing my reactions and transient reactions to things, because they start framing (within seconds to minutes) how reality organizes around me. It seems easier if I keep my attention buried in task-driven work necessity, which then tends to strip most of the rest of it away.

One example: Only on arriving at work this morning did I learn that two attorneys from another of our offices will be here for all-day video conference meetings that are scheduled for 8 AM and they need certain equipment set up in the conference room - essentially a remote office built for two of them. The equipment I need is in storage during our construction project. I was initially flustered (I already had an hour of necessary "morning chores" to do on arrival and immediately knew I wouldn't be able to do that on schedule. Relief #1 was in realizing that they aren't starting at 8 AM (they just booked the room for "all day," and that appeared as "8 AM") so I have more time than I thought. Relief #2 I decided to finish the other work ("morning chores" I usually do on arrival) first, so that at least I wouldn't look incompetent on everything even if I didn't get their equipment in time, and to get communications out to their assistants about the room. Now I have a little time to run off to storage to look for equipment for them and, hopefully, have things ready when they get here or soon after. (And to give myself the psychological break of 3 minutes to type this note.)

The Saturn transit to SQ Moon seems to have peaked and "broken" yesterday. That doesn't mean it won't float back for the next week, especially if there's a day (as there will be) when no other transits are active. For now, though, it's mostly lifted.

Today is primarily Venus transits and a little Mercury, which is fitting since we are going to a party tonight where we will pour a flight of the wines we represent and educate the curious on wine culture and characteristics.

t Venus conj. r Asc, ssq. r Mercury
t Sun sq. r Mercury

I still have traces (the last few percent) of last week's "summer cold," so energy has faded a couple of times during the lazy day. So far, mostly I've done the long analysis of the Maybrick horoscopes.

OUTCOME: As predicted. Main event was a the wine event we put on last night. Got in at 2 AM.

Everything today is experimental.

t Mars squares Novien Moon
t Venus ssq natal Ceres

The day is shaping up as "no rest for the wicked." I'd hoped for a chill day, we have to go to a business meeting, and now it's an hour earlier, and now it's traffic blocks which mean leave another hour earlier, and three things just came up that have to be finished before then, and I haven't showered yet...

So, I'm sure it will shake out fine in the end but, damn, there's no peace to be had today it seems.

OUTCOME: Pleasant end of day, though work related. I can see the Venus + work for Venus-Ceres as a possibility (in a duty sort of way). And for earlier today, I can actually accept the Mars square Novien Moon... one point for that.

Straight transits: t Mercury ssq. SQ Moon.

Experimental: t Sun square natal Ceres.

OUTCOME: Typical Mercury day. Nothing much else. Oh, this evening power blew out in half the apartment. The other half worked fine, all will be fixed tomorrow, we rerouted some power where needed and ended up ordering in a lovely Indian meal instead of straining resources in the kitchen. I'm not sure this fits any of today's transits, though its consistent with that zany SLR. (The very slow Mars crossed Marion's SSR MC tonight. It's been in orb for days.)

I personally love this section of your website. It's easier to learn/assimilate astrology in small increments in a forum that can apply to ones daily life. Thank you.

No transits for Tuesday through Thursday. I expect the SLR and the slow transits to prevail (meaning the residuals of Saturn to SQ Moon, primarily; and I'm within minutes of arc of SQ Mars squaring SSR Saturn, which is exact at the end of the month).

COMMENT 7:30 AM: Overnight, all the rest of the power went out in the apartment. Nobody is supposed to be running large extra appliances, but I bet some folks have room air conditioners and are over-loading the lines. The electrician is expected late morning, so probably this will get fixed (if not, we'll start losing food to spoilage and will have to cancel class tomorrow night; but it will probably get fixed today).

This falls in an interesting gap between natal and mundane astrology. It's hardly just a problem for Marion and me - looking in our individual charts for this should be futile unless it's because we have distinctive personal reactions or side-events that distinguish us from others in the building. OTOH the hundreds of people in the building are a small subset of the neighborhood, let alone of the city, so it's only on the border of what mundane astrology would show. (Since the number of the people in the building exceeds the number in, say, most airplanes that crash, we have a standard that says it's a reasonable number to constitute a mundane event.)

With that in mind, using the exact (to the second) coordinates for the building, transiting Neptune is 0°38' from Capsolar Descendant (obviously affecting the whole city). Of greatest interest, though, is that CapQ MC crossed transiting Saturn yesterday. It would have been exact to the minute about 9 AM yesterday, and the effect was hours later, still well within a tight orb. Not bad for a bad event affecting a few hundred people (in this case, seriously inconvenient). - Among the minor charts, Saturn is also in (slightly wider but acceptable) orb of conjunct AriQ Ascendant, and LibQ MC was a little over 1° from Saturn when the power first went partially out. (Interestingly, in the minor charts, there is more than a little Venus. CanQ Ascendant conjoins Venus. Venus transits the Artisolar Ascendant. I suppose that means, "It's not that bad, go on about your evening.")

No exact transits today.

Out of curiosity, I checked the SNQ, SQ, and PSSR for today and find no angularities unless one wants to count s Ceres on PSSR MC.

Nothing is exact today. Just the long-term stuff (t Saturn op. SQ Moon, an SSR progressed Mars-Saturn square exact 00' before the month is out).

I'm home today partly to deal with matters secondary to the power outage earlier in the week, but mostly a lazy day.

Transting Venus squares my SQ Moon today.

We already had a feel of it last night: We were feeling a bit like celebrating some nice things happening over the weekend, so after dinner (with the usual bottle of wine, in this case the last bottle in a 2014 vintage of Grenache Blanc that, while still good, was clearly approaching the end of its life) we opened a sparkling Burgundy. It was a blanc de blanc, one of the wines we distribute, rather on the higher end (I think it retails about $60, though we get a significant reduction on that). It was quite remarkable and we both enjoyed it a great deal.

At the moment (it's Friday morning) I don't anticipate anything more from this other than, perhaps, an easy day at work (it's quite quiet, I think a lot of folks are out of the office today) and general pleasant mood. Marion has a business thing that will keep her out late, so I won't see her until close to bed time. But there could still be a surprise, something I'm not anticipating.

OUTCOME: Essentially as anticipated, more or less down to the details. The primary Venus-Moon effect was last night with gentler manifestations through the day.

Transiting Sun is octile SQ Moon. This is the trailer of the Venus transit to SQ Moon Friday (and, for that matter, joins the still-active opposition of Saturn to SQ Moon).

OUTCOME: I think this was showing as Sun-Saturn to SQ Moon. It was a low energy day, couldn't get motivated to much, etc. Not much on the agenda, a little physically draggy. Certainly not a typical Sun-to-Moon day, but consistent with Sun stirring up the ongoing Saturn to Moon.

t Mars squared s Jupiter.

In the experimental category, Mercury squared natal Ceres.

OUTCOME: The main event of the day was our putting on a major wine event with top-tier wines. One of the more promising such events we've done, supporting the launch of someone's new brand. The party was a lovely, enthusiastic event. Suitable Mars-Jupiter: "High spirits, joy of life," etc., especially if one remembers this is SSR Jupiter, i.e., a transiting Jupiter: "Other people's Jupiter in my immediate environment, others spend more lavishly," etc.

Transiting Venus squares PSSR Moon today. (The SQ transit was a few days ago.)

So far, the day is starting off with a good mood. (One of my contacts keeps fogging up - I've been noticing this in the heat, it gets steamy, which is a pain.)

OUTCOME: At the end of the day there was an interesting trade-off between this transit and my new Demi-S:LR with Moon-Saturn square (mundane) foreground. Marion got sick, and I'm on the edge f caving in to it. When I got home she was mostly sleeping it off and I didn't know how the evening was going. Surprisingly, I was feeling lonely and bored. this levelled out when she got up, I provided dinner, we went through a couple of bottles of excellent wine and other entertainment.

Today,
t Sun oct. PSSR Moon
t Sun conj. L EP (not sure how I'd tell these two apart)
t Mars conj. SSR IC (for Denver, where it set up)

The Mars transit has been the most evident so far. Marion fell sick - sudden, hard-hitting cold hit her yesterday and, by this morning, I was on the edge of coming down with it. I've been holding it back all day.

Jim Eshelman wrote: Tue Aug 14, 2018 3:06 pm
The Mars transit has been the most evident so far. Marion fell sick - sudden, hard-hitting cold hit her yesterday and, by this morning, I was on the edge of coming down with it. I've been holding it back all day.

Transiting Mercury squares natal Mercury today.

Under experimental, transiting Cere octiles progressed Moon & solar Ceres.

OUTCOME: I'm still feeling the impact of yesterday's Mars crossing SSR IC (for Denver: it's looking increasingly like the setup location persists as transit sensitive). Nudging closer to sick, came home and crashed ahead of Sidereal astrology class to recoup, then had to use every bit of concentration and force (perhaps excessive force) to stay present and get through some of the hardest material of the course.

And, of course, plenty of Mercury-Mercury in all of that. (My PowerPoint was tedious and tecnical).

Nothing exact today, but still in the orb of Mars on an SSR angle and Saturn opposite SQ Moon so it seems they're predominating: Thought I'd eased off being sick as I was waking, then discovered that, nope, I'm still fighting hard to hold the Maginot line. May take tomorrow off just to make the fight easier.

Jim Eshelman wrote: Thu Aug 16, 2018 2:43 pm Nothing exact today, but still in the orb of Mars on an SSR angle and Saturn opposite SQ Moon so it seems they're predominating: Thought I'd eased off being sick as I was waking, then discovered that, nope, I'm still fighting hard to hold the Maginot line. May take tomorrow off just to make the fight easier.

Hope you feel better soon. Summer sickness are the worst. Fridays are a great day to show self love by taking care of your body.

No exact transits today. I still have the very slow transiting Mars on SSR (Denver) IC (it's only moved half a degree away). - OTOH transiting Saturn has just left the slow opposition to SQ Moon. No more Saturn + Mars, it's just Mars.

Accordingly, I'm home trying to push back this edge of being sick and, so far, all the symptoms are Mars-related: hint of pre-fever, energy an issue, everything just a little extra inflamed, etc.

Finally some real transits for the day! (And, as expected, last night's dreams seemed less combative and struggling.) Today and tomorrow, Venus and Sun move through my natal Venus-Pluto, which is much kinder, and we're hosting a wine tasting at home in an hour or so. Today I have:

t Venus oct. r Venus & (soon after midnight into Sunday) r Pluto

In the experimental category, t Ceres squares my progressed Sun and solar Moon.

OUTCOME: Wine event went very well. I have no idea what the Ceres might mean, if anything.

Disease status report? Both you and Marilyn.

Jupiter Sets at Dawn wrote: Sat Aug 18, 2018 3:25 pm Disease status report? Both you and Marilyn..

Well enough. Traces of this lingers on forever, as usual. Getting up to, say, 95% well is easy, then that last 5% takes two months. But generally, Marion and I are fine enough. (Thanks for asking.)

Arrgh! I had just got off the phone with a friend named Marilyn. I probably sound like I'm from Long Island right not too.

Today continues the Venus-Sun one-two to my Venus-Pluto.

t Sun sq. L MC, sq. r Venus, conj. r Pluto

Experimental:
t Ceres conj. s Mars, op. r Moon

I can believe the Ceres - with the "work" theme that has been (seemingly) showing - since today was not nearly as social as yesterday. Yesterday's event went off splendidly BTW, then Marion is gone for business from 7 AM until about midnight and I've been plugging away all day, e.g., did the Pope study and finished the new mundane forecast, primarily by finishing Trump's lunar returns. (LOL, it was Taurus stuff all day, just not stuff with my favorite Taurus!)

Only an experimental item (one of several in a row)"
t Ceres op. r Moon

OUTCOME: I have no idea. Maybe none.

t Ceres sq. s Saturn

t Mercury sq. r Mercury
t Venus conj. s Asc
t Sun conj. L Asc (soon after midnight into 23rd)

OUTCOME: It all kinda fit, without having anything overly-specific. Plenty of Mercury at work and then at class (first night of reading class members' charts in some detail). "Conversations" might have been a theme of the particular kind of Mercury (including lunch with a congressman and learning a great deal). Plenty of Venus, enough Sun on everything (last night of Marion at home before most of a week out of town beginning Thursday).

t Sun conj. L Ascendant

OUTCOME: After a week or two of trying, finally got some time with the head of IT to confirm his requests for a project I'm on. Then finished the project and circulated the first version.

So, much of it boils down to "connecting with leader" and "being a leader." - Off to a somm association wine event tonight as Marion starts her flight to Chicago.

t Venus conj. r Sun, sq. s MC, sq. s Pluto
-- t Sun oct. s Pluto

OUTCOME: So much happened today, it's bard to sort out the day. The basic symbolism is probably related to Marion being out of town, plus Venus on my Sun just giving positive spin/tone to the day.

Sun semi-squares my natal Sun.

In the experimental category, Mercury squares natal Ceres and Ceres semi-squares natal Saturn.

At present, I plan to be sitting around home all day, hanging with Kali and seeing how much I can pound out here on the forum.

I'm a little apprehensive about next week's aspects. My SSR progressed Mars square to Saturn peaks the same day as the Mars station 0°00' from opposite my Jupiter (17' from opposite my Uranus). Concurrently I have a modestly positive SLR (Sun on WP exactly; Mercury more widely foreground, 09' from square Jupiter.)

OUTCOME: I sat around working on the forum, especially posting the Bradley "New Tool" article, nearly all day. I'm very grumbly tonight because it seems I lost one of my contact lenses (unless it's really on the eye and I can't feel it) - have looked all over and may have to wait for Marion to get back Tuesday to find it (she's good at that and, besides, has two good eyes ). So I've been working about a third blind.

We're now a day before the Mars station and two days before the exact SQ Mars square solar Saturn (not that I expect that to peak on the exact day).

For today, Sunday:
t Venus conj. s Mercury
-- t Sun oct. s Mercury

In the experimental realm, t Ceres conjoins s Venus, which should be interesting to observe.

OUTCOME: With Marion out of town, sat at home and cranked away on the forum and related projects all day. (Appropriately Mercurial. Venussy only in the sense of something I enjoy, but I generally expect more from a Venus transit to Mercury.)

This morning (within the last half hour) was the Mars station, opposite my natal Jupiter 0°00' and my Uranus 0°17'. That's the main impact.

Additionally, t Venus conjoins SSR EP (for LA).

For context, tomorrow is the exact day of SQ Mars square SSR Saturn, which I would expect to be broadly felt for a few weeks centered on now. I also have a new (mildly auspicious) SLR setting up early evening that I should already be feeling.

I'm starting the day feeling very inflamed. Don't think I'm sick. It's more like something I ate in the last day or two had too many grams of carb (I'm eating close to 0 net carbs for almost a year). It might be allergies kicked up, though, maybe there was a pollen shift. We'll see how it shakes out, (And of course the grumbly of being at work without one of my contact lenses. If Marion's eyes aren't able to find the lost one tonight, I'll have to pay the optometrist to create a replacement.)

OUTCOME: I got through the day pretty well - the Venus prevailed. I was quite tired, and had the inconveniences already mentioned, but plowed through. Marion is due home from Chicago in about half an hour and I have a Shiraz (from a Sonoma winery started by an Australian couple) to cool and take the edge off it.

Today is the exact day of SQ Mars square solar Saturn. So far (thankfully) I can't tell that it's doing anything.

The only transit is an experimental one:
t Ceres conj. r EP

(It then moves through my natal angles for a few days.)

OUTCOME: I have no idea what this might have meant since I have no clear idea what, if anything, Ceres means.

Yesterday I had only one experimental category transit:
t Ceres sq. r MC

OUTCOME: Having no clear idea what, if anything, Ceres might mean, I'm not able to say whether this was a fit. The main features of today were the chronic effect of going without my right contact (replacement on order and due next week), having a skinny class tonight (a lot of people are out of town or coming and going), and the big one - a friend called me today to tell me about his health. I hoped he wouldn't say "cancer," and he did, and I then hoped he wouldn't say "pancreatic" and he did. He's not sounding good (and, as usual, it came on really fast). I'm going to see him next week and he expects to be there to greet me and have me do a couple of thing for him that would only be appropriate if he plans to be around a while, so that's good news. Kinda marks a day, y'know.

While Ceres is still moving through my angles (exactly crossing Ascendant tomorrow), I get back to an ordinary transit for today:

t Mercury oct. SQ Moon

I'm not sure I'll be able to distinguish this Mercury-driven day from others, After work, we are seeing a Harold Pinter play tonight, produced by Equal Means Equal as a fundraiser toward getting one more state to pass the Equal Rights Amendment.

t Mercury conj. L EP

In the experimental category, t Ceres conj. r Asc and oct. r Mercury.

Not really definitive here: Yes, today was a very Mercury day, just like most days. Otherwise, I have no idea what the Ceres transits mean (if anything).



Thus ends August.