JAE 2021 Solar Return

[Jim Eshelman]

I want to do a full workup on my October 2021 SSR, rather than just rely on visual quick impressions. I've assumed for some years that I'd need to go quite east for this, but I've recently been wondering if perhaps, instead, I should stay in LA for this one. I won't have a clear impression until I work it up fully.

Around December 2021, Marion and I both have a convergence of several quite troublesome, sad markers so I don't want to take a lot of chances with this SSR. I'll start thinking about the larger picture after I do the full breakdown (which now begins immediately below).

I hadn't noticed until now: Pluto and Eris are in 0°01' square, very close to the angles. I'm almost willing to sacrifice myself to whatever fate the chart in LA has in store just to get an unfiltered experience of that rare, now outermost, planetary combination. - And they fall on my Mars.

NOTE: SSRY 30:08:07, so PSSR will lose about 1m (a quarter degree)

r Jupiter on MC -3°28'
r Uranus on MC -3°14'
r Neptune on EP -1°07'
---------------------------
t Pluto on IC +0°38'
r Mars on IC +0°46'
t Eris on Dsc +1°09'
r Sun on Asc +5°20'
t Mars on Asc +6°16'
t Mercury on Asc +7°00'

(No Moon aspects.)

-- t Pluto-Eris sq. 0°01'
-- t Pluto conj. r Mars 0°08' mundo
-- r Uranus-Neptune sq. 0°08' mundo
-- r Jupiter-Uranus conj. 0°14' mundo
-- t Eris sq. r Mars 0°20'
-- r Jupiter-Neptune sq. 0°22' mundo
-- t Mercury-Mars conj. 0°44' mundo
-- t Mars conj. r Sun 0°48'
-- t Mercury conj. r Sun 1°40' mundo
-- t Pluto sq. r Neptune 2°04'
-- t Eris op. r Neptune 2°05'
-- r Mars-Neptune sq. 2°25'

Other partile
t Uranus op. r Mercury 0°22' mundo

[Jim Eshelman]

I'm not crazy about the strongest factors - especially natal Neptune being my most angular natal planet - though I'm quite intrigued and interested in some of them, especially the mind-boggling 0°01' Pluto-Eris square within 2° of angles and exactly atop my Mars.

Looking at alternative destinations, one immediately see Jupiter on IC at the longitude of New Orleans, Jackson, and Memphis. Finding New Orleans with Jupiter on IC and my Venus on EP (plus Uranus more widely setting) is most interesting, of course - they are 2° from square in RA and this applies to the entire line of longitude. As one moves further north, Uranus opposite natal Mercury gets closer to the horizon - it's nearly there at Memphis (my Mercury is exactly 1°00' from Asc in Memphis, Uranus 2°13' below Dsc, keeping Jupiter 0°19' from IC). This is a definite possibility.

Also, transiting Venus squares MC through the Carolinas. I've been wanting to go there. I can even get a Venus-Jupiter crossing line in the middle of West Virginia.

But I don't have to go that far to take advantage of natal planets angular. That will be the next thing to check.

[Jim Eshelman]

My natal Jupiter precessed to the date of the SSR has RA 120°48', with Uranus at 120°36'. For LA, the SSR RAMC is 117°13'. To put natal Jupiter exactly on IC, the RAMC has to increase 120°48' - 117°13' = 3°35'. My home is 118W19: Subtracting 3°35' (to increase the RAMC) gives 114W44.

That's a little east of Las Vegas; in fact, the longitude of Hoover Dam is 114W44 exactly. What does the SSR look like there, at latitude 36N01? With my Jupiter on MC, it has 0°23' Libra rising - pretty close to my Neptune and square my Mars. Not a lot of help. How far north would I have to go to get my Sun on Asc? Far outside the bounds of the U.S. It ain't agonna happen.

We could also check natal Jupiter square Asc. I could get that near Flagstaff or along a curve from there; but, by then, two Saturns are starting to creep into the foreground (and I don't fully shake the biggest concerns of the West Coast chart, I just overwhelm them with positive stuff).

At the moment, Memphis looks seriously good.

[Jim Eshelman]

For now (full decision won't be made for months), I'm going to work this up for Memphis.

r Pluto on MC -7°10'
----------------------------
t Jupiter on IC +0°19'
t Uranus on Dsc +2°13'
r Mercury on Asc +2°21'
r Venus on EP-a +2°22'
r Saturn on Asc +6°39'

-- t Uranus op. r Mercury 0°08' mundo
-- r Venus-Pluto sq. 0°13'
-- t Jupiter-Uranus sq. 1°55' mundo
-- t Jupiter sq. r Venus 2°01' in RA
-- t Jupiter sq. r Mercury 2°02' mundo
-- r Mercury-Saturn sq. 2°24'

Other partile
t Pluto-Eris sq. 0°01'
t Eris sq. r Mars 0°20'
t Pluto conj. r Mars 0°21'
t Mars conj. r Sun 0°48'


A summary of the most relevant factors:
(I could fine tune the location and make the Jupiter exact)

t Uranus op. r Mercury 0°08'
r Venus-Pluto sq. 0°13'
t Jupiter on IC 0°19'
t Jupiter-Uranus sq. 1°55'
t Jupiter sq. r Venus 2°01'
t Jupiter sq. r Mercury 2°02'
t Uranus on Dsc 2°13'
r Mercury on Asc 2°21'
r Mercury-Saturn sq. 2°24'

BTW, the exact Jupiter-Uranus paran precisely on the angles - Jupiter on IC and Uranus setting - is on the eastern edge of Missouri north of St. Louis at essentially Elsberry, for which I get Jupiter 0°27' before IC and Uranus 0°08' after it. I don't see any advantage in heading to that obscure a place. I could do as well going to anyplace at 90W21 (just a hair west of Memphis), such as Proctor, Arkansas.

[Jim Eshelman]

Just to make it easier to compare over the next few months of planning, here's a full workup for New Orleans (which is a much easier train route, I think).

r Pluto on MC -7°04'
----------------------------
t Jupiter on IC +0°11'
t Uranus on Dsc +4°09'
r Mercury on Asc +4°41'
r Venus on EP +2°20'
r Saturn on Asc +8°30'

(No Moon aspects)

r Venus-Pluto sq. 0°13'
t Uranus op. r Mercury 0°32' mundo
t Jupiter sq. r Venus 2°01' in RA
r Mercury-Saturn conj. 2°24'
t Uranus op. r Saturn 3°48'

Other Partile
t Pluto-Eris conj. 0°01'
t Pluto sq. r Mars 0°10' mundo
t Eris sq. r Mars 0°20'
t Neptune conj. r Moon 0°26' mundo
t Mars conj. r Sun 0°48'


Overall, I think Memphis is better. Not by much, but it seems more polished. Here is a summary of the ranking features for New Orleans:

t Jupiter on IC 0°11'
r Venus-Pluto sq. 0°13'
t Uranus op. r Mercury 0°32'
t Jupiter sq. r Venus 2°01'
r Mercury-Saturn conj. 2°24'

[Jim Eshelman]

It's official - we're going to Memphis. We were thinking of the train (we love train rides) and that it would be long and demanding (from LA, having to go to Chicago and then down, about three days). It turned out that flights are dirt cheap (I'd heard they had gone through the roof in price, but not what we found), so the trip is less than half the cost of the train (and under half a day's travel). We got a cheap motel walking distance from Beale Street.

And yes, Steve, we'll hit the Peabody and not miss the ducks. (It's right in the heart of the Beale district, it seems.)

Here's the SSR workup for Memphis. My relocated SLR has EP-a about 1° from natal Sun. My younger Demi-SLR will have natal Sun 0°31' from Dsc. Seems it will be a solar time.

r Pluto on MC -7°10'
----------------------------
t Jupiter on IC +0°19'
t Uranus on Dsc +2°13'
r Mercury on Asc +2°21'
r Venus on EP-a +2°22'
r Saturn on Asc +6°39'

-- t Uranus op. r Mercury 0°08' mundo
-- r Venus-Pluto sq. 0°13'
-- t Jupiter-Uranus sq. 1°55' mundo
-- t Jupiter sq. r Venus 2°01' in RA
-- t Jupiter sq. r Mercury 2°02' mundo
-- r Mercury-Saturn sq. 2°24'

Other partile
t Pluto-Eris sq. 0°01'
t Eris sq. r Mars 0°20'
t Pluto conj. r Mars 0°21'
t Mars conj. r Sun 0°48'


A summary of the most relevant factors:
(I could fine tune the location and make the Jupiter exact)

t Uranus op. r Mercury 0°08'
r Venus-Pluto sq. 0°13'
t Jupiter on IC 0°19'
t Jupiter-Uranus sq. 1°55'
t Jupiter sq. r Venus 2°01'
t Jupiter sq. r Mercury 2°02'
t Uranus on Dsc 2°13'
r Mercury on Asc 2°21'
r Mercury-Saturn sq. 2°24'

[Jim Eshelman]

The above is for central Memphis coordinates. At the time of the SSR I'll probably be at 35N07'27'' 90W04'24''. This places Jupiter 0°17' from IC, Uranus 2°13' from Dsc, the afflicted Sun 0°07' from background.

[Jim Eshelman]

We're staying at 35N07'26" 90W04'23. I don't think we'll be here at 9:24 tomorrow morning (already out and about) but I'm recording this in case I want it later.

[Jim Eshelman]

The final location was 35N07'57" 90W03'29".

[Jim Eshelman]

The final location was 35N07'57" 90W03'29".

This workup will be nearly identical to the one above but might as well work it out exactly. [The time from TMSA is 9:24:55 AM CDT. I've updated the numbers 6/2/22.]

r Pluto on MC -7°04'
---------------------------
t Jupiter on IC +0°25'
t Uranus on Dsc +2°19'
r Mercury on Asc +2°27'
r Saturn on Asc +6°45'
r Venus on EP-a +2°26'

t Uranus op. r Mercury 0°08' mundo
t Jupiter-Uranus sq. 1°54' mundo
t Jupiter sq. r Mercury 2°02' mundo

r Venus-Pluto sq. 0°13'
r Mercury-Saturn co. 2°24'

[Possibly relevant:]
s Moon oc. r Jupiter 0°18'
s Moon oc. r Uranus 0°35'

OTHER PARTILE:
t Pluto-Eris co. 0°01'
t Pluto sq. r Mars 0°13' mundo
t Eris sq. r Mars 0°20'
t Mars co. r Sun 0°48'
t Neptune co. r Moon 0°48' mundo

[Jim Eshelman]

It's time to start looking back on the outgoing SSR. This is a strangely difficult year to assess, but a few basic observations start to frame it a bit.

First, it's impossible for me to think of the year separate from the Memphis trip itself. That was such a positive, wonderful thing that it definitely has set the tone for the entire year.

The rest of the year has been fine but rather boring to summarize. Many things have been "same as usual." Where there have been negatives, I've not felt them much (certainly not as much as in previous years). For example, we finally got Covid-19 in December and, while it definitely sucked (and was the worst "cold" I've had in modern memory), it was nothing like we might have thought it would be not long before. Money has been hard all year, even with the exactly angular Jupiter, but the worst times were when Saturn was transiting SSR Jupiter and IC. Some things have happened that will permanently lift available cash a bit (recover a bit of buffer) and, while the fruits have been small under this SSR, they all happened in this SSR and will pay off in the near future. - Another "not felt them as much" item is that there have been conflicts (and for some periods it seemed they were non-stop), but somehow they don't register as a theme of the last year - they were just "the weather." Even though the events happened, they didn't 'land' adversely in my psyche.

Another 'frame' for the year is that it's very difficult to separate some of this from what has been happening in the world and in my office. There has been a gradual opening at the office that has returned it to its previous business level, greater activity, various kinds of expansions. These match my 2021 SSR well but they've also been happening everywhere.

I've had some projects this year - tech projects at work that have been remodeling and updating. This (which matches the SSR well) was quite successful and earned lots of praise for the complexity of what I handled (including diplomacy with multiple parties with diverging interests). This 'innovative in and around tech matters' has marked the year in various ways, with the work projects a big example.

Another big part of this has been the astrology work in general and through this site in particular. The main feature of the SSR is probably transiting Jupiter-Uranus to natal Mercury, and research has flourished this year. I'm nearing some significant climaxes which I won't complete before my birthday... but almost. They'll complete soon. It's probably been my most prolific single year in this sort of researching and pinning things down since any of you have known me.

We lost JSAD this year. I don't think that shows significantly in the SSR (it was a shorter-term event). Most of Mike's TMSA development has been this year, which has been one of the most exciting things to "happen to me" in astrology in a long time: It keeps opening up new vistas and making astrological life more interesting.

Marion and I were on the road more than in the two Covid years preceding. Besides the Memphis trip, we went to Chicago for her birthday and our anniversary (a bigger deal trip for her than me, though I enjoyed it much). We've made several road trips to race for a lunar return setup, and started taking Kali on some of those. There were various breakthroughs peppering the year.

[Jim Eshelman]

So how did this all shake out against the chart?

The strongest factors are transiting Jupiter 0°25' from IC, transiting Uranus 2°19' from Descendant, and natal Mercury 2°27' from Ascendant. (All other foreground planets were wide - especially by comparison - and show lesser details. I'm not going to worry about them much here.)

These three were all in aspect. The closest was Uranus' opposition to natal Mercury (0°08' mundo). At about 2°, Jupiter squared both Uranus and Mercury. Jupiter is the strongest planet; Uranus to Mercury is the strongest aspect.

This trio touched most of the main themes of the year. I don't credit it for our getting Covid (under a horrible set of directions, progressions, and transits that I wasn't sure we'd survive easily) but I do give it credit for our coming out of that pretty unscathed for the long haul. The other themes are all covered. There IS a sense, though, that at least half of its manifestations were in protecting against bad things (and recovering) more than manifesting good things as such. I'm not sure what would give that exact twist to it. There were, however, distinct accomplishments, such as the projects at work and the astrological research perseverance and success.

Jupiter-Uranus to Mercury - and especially a very strong Jupiter making positive and successful Uranus' transit to Mercury - do say most of it.

This was clearly NOT the SSR I'd have had in LA, and to which I returned after the birthday trip. That chart was primarily Pluto-Eris in 0°01' exactly transiting my Mars, all tightly angular. Secondarily, there was (all within 2°) a Sun-Mercury-Mars conjunction moderately foreground. Natal Jupiter-Uranus-Neptune were foreground, with Neptune closest (after Mars). While there were conflicts this year, they don't seem to me the main features of the year. I admit that some of this could sound like the Memphis chart (taken piece by piece), but the balance of things is all wrong.

I was curious whether i would notice SSR Moon sesqui-square natal Jupiter-Uranus. It's hard to tell, given that transiting Jupiter-Uranus is so strong. In theory, I'd allow that maybe these are important, even though I generally ignore octiles in returns. I can't say that I can distinguish natal Jupiter-Uranus emphasis distinct from the transiting Jupiter-Uranus (to Mercury) influence. It was always going to be a hard call. (In contrast, my new SSR will have Moon square natal Jupiter-Uranus closely angular.)

One thing I don't think was operative: I keep looking to see how much (if any) emphasis we should place on which angle is occupied. This return had transiting Jupiter on IC and Uranus on Dsc. I don't think these distinctions mattered at all; that is, I don't see specific IC and Descendant expressions in the events of the year except in the very broad (generic) sense that Marion and I together were back to having adventures. I think this could have happened from any of the angles and would have been as easily justified with Asc or MC symbolism.

For example, the prosperity, protection, and benefit of Jupiter exactly angular did not fit IC or 4th house themes. I can't say that "private life-elements became the chief sources of pleasure and refreshment" any more than any other year; and certainly my home wasn't the center of that. (You should or, rather, shouldn't, see it at the moment, packed with boxes pulled from storage until we have almost no room to walk.) This would have been a better description during the first year of Covid (a year earlier) when we barely walked outside, were quite happy to be alone together at home, and to work, host online wine tastings, and enjoy the aloneness at home. All of that was dispelled by the collective emergence from the pandemic throughout the last year.

And, while Marion and I continued our shared journey as a significant part of the year - getting back into adventure - it's hard to say that this matches the specific Uranus elements of the year. There were no specific changes in our relationship (let alone crises or disruption). I suppose getting back to travel could be rendered "new excitement in one's marriage, though mostly it was the old excitement still thriving. We didn't separate or threaten to. All the classic Uranus on Dsc/7th house themes don't particularly show for the year, though Uranus herself certainly showed.

This basically leaves the other (non-foreground) partile aspects. The closest is Pluto square Eris 0°01'. I don't think we know enough about Eris to say for sure what to expect, but what I do expect from this is disruption and chaos. This did raise its head through the year from various hijinks, and the big electrical project at work had numerous expected, chaos-stirring things pop out like jacks in the box unanticipated, so I think it was there. Pluto was 0°13' from square my Mars - I tend to think about this in the past as Pluto has moved on through my Neptune on an to Jupiter-Uranus, but it's right there in the deep background of the SSR. Honestly, I don't think I was as disobedient and uncooperative this year as the year or two before. (I'm sure I showed "desire to live and act unhampered by others expectations or control," etc.) I suppose there was some of this continuing, especially in response to chaos and disruption.

I refuse to interpret Eris' transit to my Mars LOL.

I don't know if the angular Jupiter being in Capricorn had an effect. Generally, signs don't have a voice in SSRs but I hold open that they may have one so far as dignities and debilities. This angular Jupiter seemed softer, less dramatic than other years, so maybe there was a slight diminshment, but nothing I would claim was strong or important.

Transiting Mars conjoined my Sun (0°48'). This is the conflict I mentioned. The aspect is deeply background. Mostly, I worked hard, pushed hard, showed surprising physical endurance in demanding situations (and other times was left managing energy issues more than anything else in response to Covid).

Finally, Neptune conjoined my Moon (0°48' mundo). This has been such a persistent thing, I don't know if I can attach it to the SSR.