Solunars by Aldebaran Sidereal Academy

I've had several tert aspects come and go without a particular noticeable result, but this week was different.

Tert Mars opposed tert Saturn Sunday. For two to three days either side, I was in one argument after another losing my temper repeatedly like I haven't in a decade or two. (It reminds me in hindsight of the years I was with a lover whose Saturn was partile square my Mars.) It was quite obvious - everything felt to be too much of a demand, a draw on energy, an intrusion - then it was gone.

Nothing else reflected this at all unless you consider natal Pluto being strong in various returns.

Noel Tyl (RIP) was into terts. I tested em in my own "outstanding" way but did not get much out of em.

SteveS wrote: Thu Dec 29, 2022 3:13 am Noel Tyl (RIP) was into terts. I tested em in my own "outstanding" way but did not get much out of em.

I'd like to like them. Two people I respected more than most people in the world - Edward Lyndoe and Donald Bradley - praised them. Firebrace was more than a little fond of them here and there. And I'd forgotten Noel's interest, so that makes four on my "respected favorites."

But they're so damn inconsistent. I certainly don't need them in general - although nothing else caught this particular few days quite so squarely. Were it not for watching terts at the moment, I'd have thought it more connected to transiting Saturn crossing my local WP-a, but the timing was a bit off; and it wasn't so much Saturn per se (loss or being taken from) as a sense of invasion, like someone busted into my fortress without permission (psychological equivalent). [On that note, I'd even forgotten until this moment that these also were the days that someone we'll all remember was persistently trying to break into the site.]

When I've looked at terts against discrete important events, what has impressed me most in the past were precise angular contacts - often within a few minutes. But I've had a couple of tert angle contacts recently (same theory of how to calculate the angles) that were utter dead notes OR too general to discern, like a P3 MC to Pluto a week or two earlier that should have been good for some moment of the universe "owning" my full attention. But the only way the universe demanded my attention at the time was in pointing out that the P3 MC to Pluto was a dud. (P3 L Asc square r Mercury this week is hard to assess: There is ALWAYS Mercury stuff going on.)

Anyway, I'm watching them for a year. This one was right on the mark for when it was exact to roughly the minute. The next one is P3 Mercury opposite r Saturn January 31

Interesting Jim! Noel used terts, I think, mainly with Solar Arcs to help confirm when a Solar Arc hit would fire-off. I will try and remember to go back and pull some of his examples to see if you can see the same importance for terts as Noel. I know I did not look at en with depth of thought you would look at em.

I think he relied on tert Moon primarily. That's an awfully fast marker! (I mostly ignore tert Moon - act like it's not in the chart - it moves so fast, crossing a degree every two or three days.)

A funny thing I just noticed: That Mars-Saturn opposition? Well, it just so happens my terts have advanced to a time one week after Mike Nelson's birthday. That's HIS Mars-Saturn (made exact a week later). - No, the arguments weren't with him, but seven months ago my terts were his natal chart.

Today, transiting Uranus exactly squares my P3 Moon.

We normally think of transits moving faster than progressions although, in this case, the progressed planet is moving faster than the transit. Tertiary Moon moves an average of about 13° (a day's motion) per month, or a degree every two or three days. Transiting Uranus moves much slower.

In any case... does this seem operative?

There may be an effect, but not a strong one. I expect quite a lot from transiting Uranus aspecting natal or progressed Moon (which are more or less the same). This is nothing like that!

If there is a Uranian effect at all, it is that, over the last couple of days, I realized that the Angularity chapter I'd been stuck on for a couple of weeks was in the wrong place. If I moved the Aspects chapter ahead of the Angularity chapter (and the subsequent Mundoscope / Mundane Angularity and natal Relocation chapters), I would have numerous advantages and be able to work around the particular roadblocks. It's a better way or developing things. So, I may credit a Uranian type effect to breaking loose a roadblock and to the mild (but clear) excitement I have to having just completed outlining the three stages of the Aspects chapter, including almost a dozen segments I've written over time on the forum.

But... this doesn't feel that much like a Uranus transit to Moon which, as mentioned, seems it should be much more. Even if I say yes, this was the source of today's Uranus (and the couple of days building to it), I have to call this a mild effect - one I could happily have never associated with any astrological pattern, simply the way the week was going.

And, if I need Uranus for today, the easiest access is to PSSR MC square transiting Uranus.

I'd rather credit it to the transit to tert Moon than to a PSSR angularity (which only rarely rises to the occasion of defining the tone of a day) but, in doing so, I have to label the Uranus transit to tertiary Moon to be mild, a passing effect.

The next one is transiting Saturn opposite tertiary Moon January 26.

Today is the exact day of transiting Saturn opposite my P3 Moon. I'm not feeling it.

I know many think tert Moon isn't all that big of a deal. I lean that way myself. Nonetheless, it moves slowly enough (1° every few days) that it can be tracked.

Today is also the exact day of a secondary progressed Moon-Venus semisquare; however, this isn't an offset IMHO. First, the semisquare is pretty minor. Second, it's the Venus end of Moon aspecting a progressed Venus-Saturn conjunction. Youd think, if anything, this would be an intensifier. It isn't. (I credit a combination of the octile being minor and that I have a great recent Demi-SLR and new SLR.) My Venus-Saturn progressed conjunction began in 2003 and lasted until 2010, then backed off until 2017. It came in long enough to plan and execute my wedding and still lasts until January 2025, but it's made its final exact pass and this month is the final progressed Moon aspect to it. (If it were going to peak, it would have been over the last two days when the Moon-reinforced progressed Venus-Saturn conjunction crossed the SNQ MC.) All that happened is that Marion had to be out of town for a day and a half. (She flew to Houston to replace her LA-centric Demi-SLR of Mars-Neptune on natal Moon-Sun-Pluto with an alternative chart that had two Jupiters angular.)

Anyway, I'm not impressed with transiting Saturn opposing P3 Moon today. I should be far more miserable.

Jim Eshelman wrote: Wed Jan 25, 2023 1:56 pm I should be far more miserable.

Thank you for the much needed levity. In my world, TP Saturn has been hanging out around my natal MC since 2006 and the beatings will not cease until 2028, at the earliest.
For years, I could not find the astrological root of the unrelenting sh&te-storm this "minor" progression has unleashed.
Then I started playing around with SolarFire's dynamic quadriwheel with Natal | Solar Arc | Tertiery Progressed | Transits.
I've found hard transits to TP angles and TP anything in hard aspect to natal angles to be very accurate for weather forecasting.
I use the term "weather forecast", versus "prediction", because there is a time and a season for every purpose under heaven, with the emphasis on "purpose". Rather than ask "what will happen", I try to quiet myself with intent to move into flow with the energy available.
They say Saturn takes care of His own.
On most days, that translates into a strong urge to climb a tall mountain and feed myself to the vultures.

two tert aspects are exact today. It's impossible to say if it's working because of how it resembles other things.

P3 Mercury op r Mercury
t Neptune op P3 Moon

Though it has been unusually busy this week, Mercury-Mercury is always hard to assess because most details of my life are Mercury.

The Neptune transit to Moon seems to fit the emotional tone of the week EXCEPT - to the extent one can really tell - it feels more like natal Neptune than transiting Neptune. (It doesn't feel that much like t Neptune to r Moon and does feel like occasions of having r Neptune angular in a lunar.) Since natal Neptune is only a few minutes from my new SLR's angle, I'm inclined to attribute this to the SLR, not to the tert transit. - But it might be too fine a line to make a judgment.

Continuing to watch these for the calendar year. The next one is p3 Sun to natal Mars mid-April.

Tert Sun Square natal Mars today. It has been a fast paced BUSY week but that's about it. Either this is a did or it is correctly showing very mild effects that I don't really need for warning of.

Next week, tert Venus squares natal Mars and transiting Jupiter conjoins tert Sun. Both would be nice but I have no real expectations of noticing them.

Last weekend was transiting Eris to tertiary Sun. (Since the progressed Sun moves so much faster, it might be better called tertiary Sun to transiting Eris.) Those who are especially fond of terts are especially fond of transits to its Sun.

However, I don't notice anything I might relate to our current understanding of Eris.

Next up is transiting Mars square tert Sun on Thursday. This will be hard to discern even if there is a strong effect since today is the exact Mars opposite natal Mars - a half Mars cycle. Of course, if there is an event resembling Mars + Eris, it should be attributed to the dual transits to P3 Sun.

Actually, thus turned out to be a very clean hit. Today is transiting Mars square tert Sun, which means Mars-Eris in space to tert Sun. Today has been a total shit storm not really shown by anything else. (It would take me half an hour to itemize the pieces of it thst converged all at once.)

So, after slamming lunch and a can of caffeine in 5 minutes then put out a couple of more fires before leaving thr office I'm off to a routine 6 mo cardiologist appointment which should be totally uneventful except my blood pressure this morning is likely at a one-year high. A little embarrassing as I tell him the nightly readings have been excellent.

Anyway, the transits to tert Sun seem dead on this time.

These tests have me less and less interested in watching terts. It's not that they don't work; it's that the effects are so minor.

I've been riding a progressed (P3) Sun-Venus conjunction this month, exact on the 18th. It's been a pleasant enough month and we have a vacation ahead with a party Monday. On about the day it was exact, I found myself remarking (in response to a morning "How are you doing today?" from a co-worker) that, surprisingly, things were "mildly pleasant." I wasn't thinking of the Sun-Venus tert conjunction but later remembered the progression and thought that "mildly pleasant" was about as perfect a description as could be for a very weak but truly present Venus effect.

It's been similar for most of these: Hard to assess because, well, yeah, I can see or almost see an effect, but nothing I couldn't stand to miss. I don't need terts to tell me I'll have a couple of "mildly pleasant" days. Day-to-day transits provide all the "daily horoscope" effect I need.

This week, I had transiting Pluto square tert Moon. Tert Moon moves a day's motion in about a month, so the partile aspect could last several days. It was exact two days ago and remains 39' wide. There hasn't been any effect yet I can discern, certainly nothing worth reporting. (For example, we're hitting the road tomorrow for a few days. Big deal. We do that all the time. Not worth wasting a transit to a tertiary luminary for that.)

I will continue to monitor since I have these calculated for a year, but I'm being definitely NOT impressed.

Next up: Transiting Jupiter opposes P3 Moon June 2.

These tests have me less and less interested in watching terts. It's not that they don't work; it's that the effects are so minor.

Thanks for this keen observation Jim.

This week was progressed (tert) Venus to natal Neptune.

One could make a case for it, but even that case only involves ordinary things that there seems no reason to need astrology to tell me.

I wouldn't say it is wrong. I'd say, "What's the point?"

I'm definitely not going to watch these next year, but I might as well finish out what I have in my calendar.

Today is exact for tert Venus to natal Uranus. (About one month coming, one month going, centered on today.) Nothing going on resembles this specifically. (I have a natal Venus-Uranus anyway and there are routine things that are always in my life that fit, but routine isn't exactly what we expect with Venus-Uranus, right?)

The most fitting thing, and somewhat exciting in a tiny way, is that I just discovered two weeks ago that a decades-long favorite hot dog stand (something of a legendary place) that closed in 2005 is back. New owners, not quite the same, but somewhat exciting to know, and we're going there when I get off work on a micro-adventure before we go to an office party later.

So, sure, there is a party and the pleasant surprise, but I'd expect this much from transiting Venus aspecting my Uranus for the day. If this is the outcome of a PROGRESSION, then I have to ask, "So what?!"

Like most of these, I'm calling this one a dud or a "so what" that doesn't deserve the energy to separately monitor.


The next one is , on August 4, is transiting Saturn square tert Moon (or, rather, tert Moon scooting through an aspect to transiting Saturn, since P3 Moon is faster). Obviously, I also hope this one is a miss. Then, through August, tert Sun squares natal Uranus (exact 8/14) and Jupiter (exact 8/22), and transiting Pluto sqares tert Sun (exact 8/18), the tert Sun intervening in the transit of Pluto to my Uranus-Jupiter. In theory, this should be a very strong tert effect since terts Sun is broadly considered to be the most important factor (and it is boosting an ongoing, active major transit). We'll see.

Tertiary progressed Sun to natal Uranus today (as part of squaring natal Jupiter-Uranus this month).

Yes, lots of new stuff going on and a sense of newness. Probably the clearest tert aspects this year.

If this is the clean hit it seems to be, it's probably stronger and clearer because (1) tert Sun is known for having a singularly important role and (2) it's reinforced by transits, something Bradley insisted was needed for external manifestation: Transiting Pluto is opposing my Jupiter-Uranus at the moment. Taking positions for this point around lunchtime as I type this:

3°20' Can - r Uranus
3°21' Ari - P3 Sun
3°31' Cap - t Pluto
3°37' Can - r Jupiter
4°11' Ari - P3 Venus

Perhaps this kind of pile-up - or mix of strong transits combined with tert Sun - is what's needed to get a strong effect.

Today, Neptune was 1 minute away from an exact square to my natal Venus. There has been a small event that happened this month, and it just once again killed me inside. Indirectly, the romantic incident I suffered from last month pushed me in the direction of making a new male friend. I thought this guy was awesome, and we were both on the exact same page about being friends. We really enjoyed eachother's company, and I found this guy texting me at all hours of the night and morning. Keep in mind, he pursued me and couldn't explain why he was attracted to me. Today with Tert Neptune square Venus from one minute away from exactitude, he completely ghosts me and blocks me on everything. It sucks because, I feel like everything he said inspite of of us making it clear we both wanted to be friends was just thrown out the window. In fact, I feel like most romantic potential I've had with men this SOLAR YEAR year felt like, "wow, I like you, but I can't like you because you're some sort of fragile alien creature". Tert Neptune began to close in on natal neptune within 30 minutes last year.

Also, my Solar progressed Moon was in exactitude with Solar Pluto today. Both being 1 degree and 17 minutes in Capricorn.

Jim wrote:

If this is the clean hit it seems to be, it's probably stronger and clearer because (1) tert Sun is known for having a singularly important role and (2) it's reinforced by transits, something Bradley insisted was needed for external manifestation: Transiting Pluto is opposing my Jupiter-Uranus at the moment.

Most interesting!

What a miserable thing, Venus

I think the big event - the push for something impactful - was the precise Moon-Pluto progression. Nonetheless, this tertiary Neptune 0°00' from square your Venus on target for this (and much else you've been mentioning about the year).

I've always had difficulty sorting out priorities on terts, other than the fact that when tert Sun is involved it should be taken more seriously. This Neptune to Venus, though, is exactly target. Bradley wrote that he treated terts mostly like "another set of transits," meaning that the slower the progressed planet, the bigger deal it was - and this is an exact match to his opinion.

Your SLR a day before just shows the high impact without being very specific about what kind. Transiting Pluto squares natal Pluto with both of them very strong (t Pluto 0°52' from Nadir, r Pluto 0°04' from EP and 0°34' above Asc. This is accurate as far as it goes: A high impact event out of the blue that makes you want to withdraw further.

A few more subtle things may add more information. For example, I don't usually find Moon's node worth mentioning, but I do see transiting Node aspects both Pluto's suggesting that something the high impact event is connected to associations or connections. (Pretty neutral, but I'm reading it as I see it.) Though not foreground, transiting Sun opposes Saturn 0°09' mundo suggesting that the impact is experienced as negative, refusing, limiting. Other partile non-foreground aspects include Venus square your Saturn 0°47' and Mars to your Neptune 0°52' (even Saturn square natal Node 0°46'), so the subtler parts of the SLR do fill in the event details. (Older approaches say that the Sun-Saturn is across 11th-5th houses, suggesting that the aspect expresses through friendships and romance issues.)

The main "tell" though is the Pluto-Pluto on angles at the same time you had the progressed Moon-Pluto get really exact. That you had the tertiary Neptune to Venus at the same time converged lots of themes together.

More interesting!

Jim Eshelman wrote: Tue Aug 29, 2023 8:57 am What a miserable thing, Venus

I think the big event - the push for something impactful - was the precise Moon-Pluto progression. Nonetheless, this tertiary Neptune 0°00' from square your Venus on target for this (and much else you've been mentioning about the year).

I've always had difficulty sorting out priorities on terts, other than the fact that when tert Sun is involved it should be taken more seriously. This Neptune to Venus, though, is exactly target. Bradley wrote that he treated terts mostly like "another set of transits," meaning that the slower the progressed planet, the bigger deal it was - and this is an exact match to his opinion.

Your SLR a day before just shows the high impact without being very specific about what kind. Transiting Pluto squares natal Pluto with both of them very strong (t Pluto 0°52' from Nadir, r Pluto 0°04' from EP and 0°34' above Asc. This is accurate as far as it goes: A high impact event out of the blue that makes you want to withdraw further.

A few more subtle things may add more information. For example, I don't usually find Moon's node worth mentioning, but I do see transiting Node aspects both Pluto's suggesting that something the high impact event is connected to associations or connections. (Pretty neutral, but I'm reading it as I see it.) Though not foreground, transiting Sun opposes Saturn 0°09' mundo suggesting that the impact is experienced as negative, refusing, limiting. Other partile non-foreground aspects include Venus square your Saturn 0°47' and Mars to your Neptune 0°52' (even Saturn square natal Node 0°46'), so the subtler parts of the SLR do fill in the event details. (Older approaches say that the Sun-Saturn is across 11th-5th houses, suggesting that the aspect expresses through friendships and romance issues.)

The main "tell" though is the Pluto-Pluto on angles at the same time you had the progressed Moon-Pluto get really exact. That you had the tertiary Neptune to Venus at the same time converged lots of themes together.

Thank you, Jim. Really amazing explanation. I'm not trying to derail the thread, but obviously, I've always been extremely unlucky in romantic endeavors.
Whenever I interact with men in a potential fashion, I try to set boundaries, and tell them, "hey, we're just friends". I try not to spin any illusions about prince charming, but I can't stop attracting these, "I like you, but I can't like you" guys, or men who seem to really like me, and then just vanish even though I set boundaries and tell them I need to take things a little slow at first. What is it about this energy that attracts unavailable men? Keep in mind, I don't pursue men, and my Moon/Venus square is reflective of that.

Also, strange to note, Tertiary Neptune has been back and forth over my natal Venus/Jupiter complex since the late 90s.

I'll probably delete the whole thread in the next few weeks anyway. It did get derailed from the targeted "here are my terts monitored and reported on for a year," but it's all been pretty worthless. I'll probably make a few summary sentences on a primary tert thread and then delete this one.

The primary meaning of Venus-Neptune is always - and quite explicitly - "pursuit of unobtainable love" - the usual forms being the unpursuable, or mystic love as of a messiah or deep involvement with someone who is already partnered or otherwise unavailable or pursuit of something so unrealistic it doesn't exist. But that phrase, "pursuit of unobtainable love" is pretty basic.

Venus wrote:

In fact, I feel like most romantic potential I've had with men this SOLAR YEAR year felt like, "wow, I like you, but I can't like you because you're some sort of fragile alien creature".

"When the going gets rough, the tough get going," keep your chin-up Venus--this SSR is about to end--never give up on your hopes.