**Times where noted are Pacific Daylight Time; degrees where noted are rounded to the nearest whole degree.
Communications go underground when Mercury stations retrograde at 4 degrees Sagittarius mid-afternoon on Election Day in the U.S., November 6th. Rogue elements that don’t feel a requirement to play by society’s standard rules of order could take advantage of the opportunity to conceal or confuse facts, not Sagittarius’ strong suit to begin with. All eyes will be on the big picture and perhaps be persuaded to believe that the end justifies the means. Mercury is still within orb to the square to retrograde Neptune, which is also basically at a standstill as he prepares to go direct in less than four days. With these two planets frozen in the sky their influence swells beyond normal proportions. Watch the blowhards for clues to what is really going on – but use the Scorpio Sun’s depth perception to read between the lines. Revelations may come after Mercury moves back into Scorpio and meets up with the Sun for the inferior conjunction within the next week and a half.
Venus in Libra’s trine to Jupiter at 14 degrees Gemini on November 8th should bring a brief window of calm after the election storm. Jupiter in Gemini has been like PacMan eating up all data in sight and hungering for more, spurring us into ever more complex systems to contain all that information. He doesn’t care how well it is processed, as long as it is ingested incessantly. Our world has an insatiable appetite for every little bit of information from the most personal to the universal. Jupiter’s last tour through Gemini in 2000 saw to it that the Internet became ubiquitous; now he seems hell bent on digitizing all aspects of our lives. The sense of data overload probably won’t go away but what may become of all this is a transformation in the way we process information. The old linear model, no matter how broad the bandwidth, just can’t handle it. While Venus’ brief anointing of Jupiter with her good life grace may bring a much-needed sense of equilibrium, in that peaceful moment, if we can pry our faces out of our smart phones long enough, we just may catch a holographic glimpse of the future.
After five months of being retrograde, Neptune stations direct at 0 degrees Pisces on November 10th. With the distant planet’s energies now in laser-like focus perhaps his galactic call will be felt by a few more than just the uber-sensitive. The trans-Saturnian planets, which can’t be seen by the naked eye, seem to be influenced by entities outside our solar system. The light of our Sun just doesn’t have the reach. This moment then becomes an opportunity to leave behind the drama of daily life for the wormhole of transcendent consciousness that awaits the true adventurer. Meditation and dreams are the preferred modes of travel; keen, unconditional observation the best compass.
The afternoon of November 13th brings a Total Solar Eclipse New Moon at 22 degrees Scorpio making a powerful case for this month to be all about Intimacy, how much we truly want it and the consequences of avoiding it. Traditionally, intimacy is related to sex, which is about as close as two bodies can get. But Scorpio’s mission is much more profound than that. It is to penetrate deep into the core of humanity and through complete immersion, identify with it at such a level that he sees what his purpose is as an individual – what unique gift he has to offer to civilization. Intimacy at this level means total knowledge of Other from one whole human being to another and up through the echelons of “wholes” to that of humanity. That is where the power lies – at the root, underground, where it is dark and forms are decomposing. Because Scorpio instinctively understands the nature of death, materially and symbolically, he can quickly deconstruct any assemblage of containment, any false façade and see what it is made of or what is behind it, and he loves all of it. Kinky? Bring it on. Taboo? Not an issue. It means Scorpio is getting closer to the truth. His challenge, however, is to return from the depths periodically. It is all too easy to be so identified with the darkness and the intensity of the tremendous energy it takes to keep the unknown parts of our nature underground, that he forgets to return to the surface to share his treasure. Perhaps it is the fear of having to sacrifice his gift for the greater good that keeps those with a strong Scorpio influence in the realms of jealousy, possession, compulsion and deep suspicion. At his highest expression, Scorpio is our guide to the underworld and the sorcerer of transformation. Repression is his magic wand that rips through the strata of embedded psychological material causing surface eruptions to reveal where healing is needed. By the end of the day on the 13th, retrograde Mercury backs into Scorpio to aid and abet the process over the next month with his seductive interrogative prowess that persuades us to reveal ourselves utterly and with abandon. He’ll get us to see that the act of expressing our darkness in the light is indeed liberating.
Captains of Industry rejoice as Mars enters Capricorn on November 16th, adding his driving force to the organization of society. Ambitious, but decidedly unpretentious, Capricorn is energized by Mars’ assertiveness. His usually seamless public and private life is marked by a strong sense of integrity but with Mars here, the uniqueness of the individual could rise above the rigid business suits we call society’s code of behavior, galvanizing selfless leaders to ascend and make their innovative stamp on civilization.
On November 17th, retrograde Mercury emerges from his shadowy journey deep in the caverns of the mind to briefly catch a glimpse of the light of day when he has his Inferior Conjunction with the Sun at 26 degrees Scorpio. Intellect and clarity is accentuated when Mercury and the Sun get together; in Scorpio secrets could be revealed or lights could go on in heads around the globe as all the dots are suddenly connected. Hopefully, fearless Scorpio will have given us the courage to drill down to our core so that we may now brave articulating what we’ve found to anyone who will listen. Openly sharing our mining efforts will yield the gold standard of intimacy.
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