The Sun enters Libra II on October 3, 2023 at 7:30 am EDT — the decan called Two Links of a Chain by Austin Coppock, while T. Susan Chang, noting its associations with the 3 of Swords in Tarot named it Ties That Bind. The Hellenistic-era text 36 Airs of the Zodiac indicated that the deity worshipped at this time of year was Kairos — with a caveat.

Apparently, the list as we have it, is somewhat damaged and perhaps mis-copied. One name, in particular, appears twice, and in a way that suggests that the scribe looked in the wrong place twice, and a similar name got left out.

Kairos

Kairos was a minor Greek deity of “the right time” — as in, the right time to act, the right time to make a decision, the right time to seize the moment. He was depicted as a running athletic youth, completely shaved for competition except for a long forelock or braid of hair on his head, which trailed out behind him. When you saw Kairos coming, your task was to seize him by the braid and make use of the chance that had come to you. He never ran by you twice.

But the 36 Airs list has Kairos in the list twice. The first place is here, at Libra II; and the second place is in a few weeks, at Scorpio III (November 12-22)

I’ve discussed this briefly with Sartrix on her translation work on astrological taxonomies, and she’s also aware of this problem. The whole point of Opportunity is that he only knocks once, right? Is the goal here, to do magical work so that Kairos’ running track comes by you a second time? Or is something missing? She thinks the second deity (or deity-class) for Scorpio III might have been the Curetes, or Korybantes — the masculine spirit-powers that parallel the nymphs in Greek mythology. As a careful and deliberate scholar, she’s reluctant to go farther than the textual tradition allows. I have fewer reservations, myself — I’m a poet, and if the calendar becomes more interesting and mythic by taking a few liberties, that’s better in my book than sticking to the provable scholarship.

It’s more than that, though. The Korybantes, sometimes also called the kabeiroi, were the mountain dwelling “land wights” or land-spirits that guarded and nurtured the infant Zeus on Mount Ida, and made such a racket that Kronos the Titan his father, could not hear the infant’s cries. And, in imitation of these spirits, men of the ancient world may have put on costumes (or stripped naked) in order to dance for and with the Great Mother goddess Cybele (of Gemini II) as if they were Korybantes. In this sense, they may have been similar to shamans or primitive magicians. Ancient Greek and Imperial Roman statuary and bas-reliefs show the Korybantes in classic Greek helmets with horsehair crests, and clashing their swords and spears against their shields. So, when we get to Scorpio III, I’ll write about the korybantes instead of Kairos a second time.

This almost feels like a…. what do you call it… an Opportunity, doesn’t it??

Dodekatemoria

The dodeks of Libra II are assigned as repeats of the astrological signs Aquarius – Pisces – Aries – Taurus. These represent the balancing act you go through when there’s a hard and challenging action you must take: first comes the knowledge that you know how to do something and that you ought to do it; then come the concrete steps you take to do the action, combined with the anxieties that arise from the thinking-through of implications; the fire in the head and heart as you go through with the action; and finally the contentment that comes from finishing the work.

Planetary Positions

Let’s start with Rulerships. Following on the analysis from last time (Libra I), let’s begin with an analysis of the state of rulerships, considering both the day side of the chart, above the horizon, containing Mercury, Venus, the Moon, Uranus, Neptune and the North Node, and the night side containing Neptune, Saturn, and Pluto.

	Sign	Triplicity	Term	Face	Detriment	Fall
Sun	♀︎	♀︎	☿	♄	♂︎	☉
Moon	☿	♄	♀︎	♃	♃
Mercury	☿	♄	♂︎	☿	♃	♀︎
Venus	☉	☉	♂︎	♂︎	♄	–
Mars	♀︎	☿	♀︎	♃	♂︎	☉
Jupiter	♀︎	☾	♃	☾	♂︎	–
Saturn	♃	♂︎	♀︎	♄	☿	☿

When we consider this chart, we see that Saturn answers to Jupiter, while both Mars and Jupiter answers to Venus, and Venus answers to the Sun — and the Sun and Venus are in mutual reception. Accordingly we are creative and generous and sensual with our friends, while also mindful of our responsibilities. Meanwhile, the Moon looks to Mercury with a certain degree of stubborn willfulness from the Fifth Mansion of the Moon, “The White Spot”; Mercury answers only to themselves; but only Uranus and Pluto are paying them any attention — and Neptune is actively opposing them. The Moon’s next aspect is to trine the Sun. It might look like she’s about to connect with the Lot of Fortune, but since the Lot’s position is calculated based on how far she is from the Sun, it will always run slightly ahead of her.

Accordingly, we have a chart in which Venus, the Sun, and Mercury — the inner planets representing our creative and communicative selves in service to our soul intentions — play an outsized role. Yet the Sun has a placement which is both accidentally strong but essentially weak: our soul intentions still need to be fed with a mix of physical and emotional food. We’re likely to be hungry in coming days, and in need of both well-prepared food and deep affection. Prepare yourself to draw on these sources — and never show up to a friend’s place without bringing food or drink with you: everyone is likely to be starving and thirsty.

The placement of the three retrograde Interlopers — Pluto, Neptune, and Uranus — in an irregular arrangement of trines and textiles, speaks to the recently started strike by auto workers, the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike, and the success of the WGA. Together, the three point to new possibilities for labor action – Pluto indicates a possible strike in the construction industry or in agricultural settings. Neptune indicates the possibility of similar labor actions among fire-fighters, police officers, and civilian contractors in both military and commercial ports; while Uranus indicates upheavals among government employees at the local and state levels, and possible pushback from furloughed federal workers in the US. The shape of a new movement is taking place under the surface in America, though the shape of it is not fully visible yet.

Mars makes the transition from Libra (one of the signs where he’s significantly weaker) to Scorpio (where he’s incredibly strong) on October 12 — one day before the start of the next decan. As he does so, he’ll form a strong trine with Saturn in Pisces between the fifth and ninth houses — which are often our places of pleasure and play. Expect challenges and delays in travel and learning — and take more precautions when working out or preparing food in the kitchen to avoid cuts and burns or muscle strains or breaks.

Horoscopes by Rising Sign

Decan I of any sign (usually covering the 21st of the month to the first of the following month) is free to all visitors; Decan II is only available to Patreon and Ko-Fi.com subscribers; and Decan III is available to Patreon, Ko-Fi, and MailChimp subscribers.

Libra:

Scorpio:

Sagittarius:

Capricorn:

Aquarius:

Pisces:

Aries:

Taurus:

Gemini:

Cancer:

Leo:

Virgo:

Colophon

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If you want to read some of my astrologically-oriented poetry, the largest collection is called A Full Volume of Splendor and Starlight, available through my Etsy shop, and containing poems and hymns to the planets, constellations, decan deities, and Moon Mansion angels. While not astrological, Festae contains hymns to some of the older Roman gods and spirits from the calendar created by Numa Pompilius, the second ancient King of Rome.

I use iPhemeris for my charting software, and screenshot it to make charts. I want to thank the team that develops iPhemeris for the addition of Terms and Decans to their charts. I also use Hugh Tran‘s Physis typeface to craft logos for this blog, as well.

I use Christopher Warnock‘s The Mansions of the Moon as the basis of my Moon placement delineations, and Austin Coppock‘s 36 Faces for much of my planetary delineations. Neither gentleman endorses me.