Capricorn Sun (yin, earth, cardinal)

Aquarius Moon (yang, air, fixed, phase – new)

Perhaps not the warmest combination, but certainly one of achievement, of creating solid foundations, taking charge in the community, and putting your ideals into practice; at best symbolises egalitarian leadership working for the good of all. The adjacent-sign friction here is between the old and the new; there’s a need to either alternate or combine the old, safe, tried-and-tested methods with the most cutting-edge innovations and technology.

Capricorn and Aquarius are the two mid-winter signs, which is why they’re both traditionally ruled by the farthest (back then) planet from the Sun; Saturn. So the emphasis is on Saturn for the next couple of days, as both Sun and Moon are ruled by him. Saturn is currently trying to be his best self, exalted in Libra (“firm but fair”), but he’s exactly squaring Pluto (in his own backyard, Capricorn), and has just stationed retrograde. So Saturn’s trying to kind of elegantly resist the changes Pluto is determined to bring about, and this is the frictional “growth aspect” we could be dealing with this weekend. Since Saturn is retrograde it could be very much an internal process; Saturn internalised could give a tendency to be too hard on yourself, and Mars currently retrograde in Leo has the same theme, so try to guard against that and to use Saturn’s strength for rather than against yourself.

The Moon will be void of course in Aquarius from 8:23pm Sunday in the UK (3:23pm in New York), until it enters Pisces at 6:17 a.m. Monday (1:17 a.m. in New York). This is traditionally considered to be a time when “nothing will come of it,” so a time to postpone things you do want something to come of, and perhaps to tentatively try small things you don’t want to have too much of an effect.

Capricorn Sun (yin, earth, cardinal), Sagittarius Moon (yang, fire, mutable, waning crescent phase)

Adjacent signs can have some difficulty working together, as they tend to be antidotes to one another. You could see the calm, purposeful strength of the Capricorn Sun as providing a steadying anchor for the enthusiastic, explore-in-all-directions Sagittarius Moon, which in turn encourages the Capricorn Sun to lighten up a bit. But they’re in danger of simply neutralising one another and leaving you feeling frustrated. The advice with adjacent signs is often to alternate between the two; to get a bit of a yin-yang flow going. You could also try letting the Sun be in charge, i.e., the motivation, and then using the Moon to carry out the resulting tasks. This allows both planets to act in their natural way. So – perhaps a good time to tackle enthusiastically something you normally find offputting or difficult, or to take charge of something useful, necessary, important, and find a way to make it fun. Bear in mind that Mercury is retrograde, so this doesn’t mean launching new projects, but rather working on existing or old ones; the waning crescent phase of the Moon echoes this, suggesting this week is the time for tying up the loose ends of this lunar cycle (which began with the Sagittarius New Moon on December 16th, and ends with the Capricorn New Moon and solar eclipse on January 15th).

Sun, Venus and Mean Node conjoin at 21+ Capricorn:

This is interesting. The north node is generally considered to point to a path of growth or evolution i.e., to the most difficult, farthest from the comfort zone, but most ultimately rewarding and helpful direction. The south node is the opposite; comfortable, familiar, but potentially stagnation. So the nodes represent the past and the future, in terms of the evolutionary path. Sue Tompkins points out, and I’ve found this super-useful, “When attempting to understand the Nodes, it is essential that emphasis be placed on the nodal rulers. To view the Nodes merely by sign and house will almost always be misleading.” (from The Contemporary Astrologer’s Handbook by Sue Tompkins, p. 305).

This week we have a picture of the sky seeming to bend over backwards to bring these polar opposites closer together. The Sun and Venus highlight and “make attractive” the north node. The south node’s ruler, the Moon, enters Capricorn, the north node’s sign, overnight Tuesday/Wednesday; i.e., you could say the south node is moving towards the north and effectively opposing itself. The north node’s ruler, Saturn, is (a) exalted in Libra and (b) about to station retrograde (Wednesday) i.e., to go backwards, reaching towards the past. It’s as if the nodes are reaching for one another and trying to bridge the gap, bending time, bringing past and future together and making an evolutionary leap eminently possible.

This kind of symbolism also makes a lot of sense between two eclipses; eclipses are all about the nodes, they can only happen on the nodes, and tend to leave a feeling of time having accelerated and everything having changed. I notice the time between eclipses often feels a bit dreamlike, only realising later how much things moved on right under our noses.

Daily astrology events list. Shows all exact aspects in astrology today for the Classical Planets, named Centaurs, named TNOs, Dwarf Planets (Eris, Makemake, Haumea, Pluto, Ceres), Mean Node, Mean BML, Pallas, Juno, Vesta, Eros, Psyche, Galactic Center & Great Attractor. Sign changes, stations, eclipses, occultations, Moon phases and Mercury shadow dates are also shown. Full listings for the year are on the aspectarians page.

Friday 12th June 2009 (UT Now is 09:03:33)

No, none of the asteroids below seem to be Centaurs or TNOs. But Narcissus is pretty interesting so I’ve added it to the standard list of objects displayed on the ephemeris and chart pages.

For minor planet astrologers, these names were added to the Minor Planet Center list overnight, including TNO 2001 UQ18 (minor planet number 148780) which is now called Altjira. Altjira is currently at 2+ Gemini — i.e., conjunct Barack Obama’s Moon, and the Moon of the USA Solte Chart. Altjira has an orbital period of 293 years, and I’m rushing out of the door now so that’s all I can say. I think there will be coverage on Planet Waves.

Among the new asteroids are 12608 Aesop and 24997 Petergabriel, currently at 12+ and 7+ Libra respectively.

You can get positions for these objects from my ephemeris here, using the “additional objects” option:

(12608) Aesop
(24988) Alainmilsztajn
(148780) Altjira
(12617) Angelusilesius
(12609) Apollodoros
(8344) Babette
(79130) Bandanomori
(180739) Barbet
(23408) Beijingaoyun
(12709) Berg op Zoom
(161371) Bertrandou
(8348) Bhattacharyya
(185554) Bikushev
(12710) Breda
(175365) Carsac
(129564) Christy
(37687) Chunghikoh
(175046) Corporon
(185576) Covichi
(77318) Danieltsui
(39645) Davelharris
(6608) Davidecrespi
(12716) Delft
(13031) Durance
(23944) Dusser
(12391) Ecoadachi
(69870) Fizeau
(187679) Folinsbee
(158092) Frasercain
(13033) Gardon
(7564) Gokumenon
(47002) Harlingten
(97582) Hijikawa
(24862) Hromec
(88260) Insubria
(31109) Janpalous
(10586) Jansteen
(38019) Jeanmariepelt
(182592) Jolana
(178256) Juanmi
(8724) Junkoehara
(44011) Juubichi
(79149) Kajigamori
(17521) Kiek
(6144) Kondojiro
(183294) Langbroek
(12616) Lochner
(171256) Lucieconstant
(24974) Macuch
(23946) Marcelleroux
(10510) Maxschreier
(8739) Morihisa
(4493) Naitomitsu
(175259) Offenberger
(84928) Oliversacks
(11585) Orlandelassus
(164518) Patoche
(24997) Petergabriel
(10662) Peterwisse
(178008) Picard
(77138) Puiching
(29185) Reich
(188847) Rhipeus
(11875) Rhone
(100266) Sadamisaki
(175613) Shikoku-karst
(13094) Shinshuueda
(187680) Stelck
(9128) Takatumuzi
(13032) Tarn
(164006) Thierry
(4288) Tokyotech
(7806) Umasslowell
(33061) Vaclavmorava
(183114) Vicques
(98127) Vilgusova
(12415) Wakatatakayo