Astrology of Now: Listen For The Blue Quincunx
Mark Rothko – Jupiter in Pisces qq Mercury in Libra
I am sitting at a desk in a high-ceilinged room in Brighton. The tall window frames blue, at the lower edge lavender blossom and then a few inches above, the horizontal of prussian blue sea meeting pale, brilliant summer sky.
In the distance, the sounds of church bells, surf, cars’ swish.
My friend, whose flat I am borrowing, is a religious scholar. Beside me the Qur’an, The Muhaddithat, then the poet Brodsky’s On Grief and Reason.
I gaze at the sea, listen to the chimes. I am at a loss for what to write. I cast a horary chart. “What shall I write about?” The answer comes: Jupiter and Neptune.
As you have just read, I am in a blue glass bowl of Jupiter and Neptune, the rulers of Pisces, the sign of the two fishes going in opposite directions. Jupiter the philosopher, Neptune the mystic; the sea, the church, the scholar, the poet. The horizon, where sky god meets sea god.
Very quietly, Jupiter and Neputne are approaching a quincunx this week, which will become exact on August 15. They make an aspect maybe once a year, so this is important. And between Leo and Pisces, as they are now, once in a lifetime.
The quincunx – an aspect that demands attention. It is normally between signs of incompatible elements making a passionate, jarring, uneasy connection where naturally there is none. But therein lies the magic. With the quincunx, the signs and planets make up for each other’s flaws, fill in the gaps. The whole is far larger than the parts.
Fire has courage and gut instinct. Water has depth and sympathy. Look at your chart and see what parts of your life are drawn together by the two rulers of Pisces. Jupiter and NeptuneL boundless, infinite, mystical, imaginative. Where is the strange music being played? Where are the mermaids singing?
Here is Ella Fitzgerald, showing how Neptune in Leo plays. (And a stellium in Taurus can sing.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2olBE4C5_Gk
I dreamt that I was on a newly paved, newly painted road, with a blue, musty fog on the right shoulder. It was all musty blue. There were tire tracks which circled to and away from it. Last minute correction.
I was very mindful of staying on the path.
Woke up in a total fog, forgot a meeting, cleaned the kitchen and went to work.
This painting is a perfect emblem of my dream and my state of being today!
Your dream: beautiful, mysterious and yet with a completely straightforward message.
Not thinking of the obviously relevant quincunx, because there would be a trine of sun and moon and the sun was conjunct asteroid Sicilia,( which it was to the sun of my birth), I chose yesterday to launch a long poem “Coming to Syracuse” ( bit.ly/1saHeFX ). It’s about fate as reflected through Sicily and the “Sicilian muse” of Virgil’s famous Eclogue 4. It’s an altogether very metaphysical and mythical poem described as being an Epyllion (short epic) not an epic and with Urblogues not Eclogues because tourists take the place of shepherds two millennia on.
In case anyone is interested, and not least astrologers should be, I have Poesia in my 10th house, Virgil and Ovid conjunct my sun and Shelley and Milton conjunct my ascendant. You would imagine at that rate I might be known for something, but not only have I been refused publication (despite as one leading poet opined probably studying the classics for years, which I haven’t, to achieve such Virgilian musicality), but one has to recall Shelley complained of “the tyranny of neglect”. Read the poem (and perhaps especially Part 4 which echoes Eclogue 4) and you might think Aug 6th was a day in the course of poetry. The work at least implicitly challenges the direction, style and subject matter of much modern poetry.
Thanks for the link Rollan. I have skimmed the poem, except part four (which I enjoyed thoroughly) but will read it properly over the weekend. And yes, very relevant quincunx.
Have you read Augustus by John Williams? I’ve just finished it. It’s brilliant and was also, until recently, neglected, so you are in good company, It’s an epistolary novel about Octavius Caesar.
Thanks for the recommendation. I haven’t read the book but have looked up Williams’ birth date to find clues as to any block . As Wikipedia supplies both 22 and 29th August 1922 that’s unhelpful, but I notice something some might ignore. Anything up to 1 and a half degrees either side of a world point is significant and 15 Leo is one of the 6 world points but deemed the most difficult or unfortunate. So whatever the birth date Williams’ Neptune on 16 Leo might be saying something. In my own case I have a Mars/Pluto conjunction across 14 and 15 Leo with these planets ruling and co-ruling the 3rd of writing. That may colour things. However as I also have the Part of Popularity conjunct the Part of Death trine my third house Mercury/Venus conjunction there is a possible hint any notable success could finish post mortem! But like most people I am never too sure quite what weight to give to the Parts and I mostly don’t use them. Asteroids are far more accurate.
I don’t know about the world points. Where do I find out about them?
It’s really a German Cosmobiology thing which I’m not into but take a few points from. The world points are simply the 0 degree solstice points of Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn plus 15 Leo and 15 Aquarius. They really do help fame and often associate with world shaking events like the 9/11 World Trade Centre horror took place following an eclipse on 0 Cancer which was then opposed in September by Mars in Cap releasing the violence.
I agree the quincunx is no minor aspect. I have one, exact, between my 0 Leo Moon and my 0 Cappy Mars. I don’t know if it has any positive effects on me, I only know I have a shockingly bad temper. 🙁
… and it only dawned on me after writing this that I have one between Neptune and Jupiter, linking house 3 with house 10, Scorpio with Gemini… go figure!
Serendipity!
Thanks for this reminder. With Neptune in my first house and Jupiter in the 9th conjunct Mercury and Venus (my chart ruler), I feel pretty tuned to these two planets– and currently Neptune has been trining my Jupiter stellium, and squaring my Sun 8 Gemini… I am eager to see what will happen as Jupiter moves closer to sextiling my Asc/Sun trine. It has been a fruitful year for music and art in my life, though one commissioned art project has required several redoux and will probably be finished before the aspects are exact. Given that it is a fairly complex shamanic rattle, it seems to fit the spiritual orientation of the aspect! This might be motivation in itself! 😉 Meantime, I feel myself drawn to doing more spiritual work than ever, while longing for some relational dilemmas to be resolved. Since Mars is exactly opposed my Venus at 8 Cancer, I suppose Jupiter will have its quincunx effect on Mas as well… and Pisces will be quincunxing my Libra Ascendent! I’m very interested to see how this will play out. I think I will print out your blog and post it prominently!!!!!
It’s not just a quincunx it is a quite potent antiscion between Mercury and Jupiter. Antiscia are symmetrical shadow points falling equidistant from the Cancer/Capricorn solstice points (0 cardinal). Contra-antiscia fall equidistant around the equinox points. When one planet’s reflection across the axis is occupied by another planet or angle, a strong connection is formed, and because it pertains to the world axis (cardinal axis), the bond is made all the more visible.
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