MAJOR UPDATE AS OF SEPTEMBER 30, 2015: Because of now-validated research related to the quindecile, this article presents the old and new terms that will lead to Part 2 of this series. Please read both. This contains the transitioning names. Part 2 contains the full explanations.
Pluto’s shift back to direct motion on Friday morning, September 25, didn’t come without much fanfare to the good and the bad. Pope Francis set foot on American soil for the first time in his life just minutes over 12 hours after Pluto’s grand directional change, and the United States welcomed him with open arms. Regardless of individual groups to which anyone might belong–racial, ethnic, national origins, socioeconomic, marital status, gender identification, political, or even theological foundations and beliefs–a wave of hope and joy seemed to wash over the land. An NBC-TV news anchor referred to Pope Francis as having “a transformative.effect” on many. How much more Plutonian can we get?
And as if that wasn’t enough with Pope Francis’ arrival, NASA eclipsed the event with new photos of Pluto on the day before, and spectacular they are! Pluto’s snakeskin garb reveals the true elegance of this mysterious planet so far from us. According to William McKinnon of New Horizons Geology, Geophysics and Imaging (GGI) team deputy lead from St. Louis’ Washington University, “It looks more like tree bark or dragon scales than geology.”
Pluto in color – released 24 Sep 2015, the day before Direct motion
We often think of Pluto as the transformer, the great mover and shaker of our lives. And yet as slowly as Pluto moves, that impact is often a palpable event we later recognize as a life-changing one. But then as I heard Richard Dreyfuss singing in Mr. Holland’s Opus tonight toward the end of the movie, the line came out with such extraordinary precision that fits the Pluto moment: “Life is what happens to you when you’re busy making other plans…” We certainly could interchange “Life” with “Pluto,” couldn’t we?
We consider Pluto as we do the other planetary bodies–by sign, by house, and by the general meaning we’re trying to grasp. As I listened to newscasters speaking about the pontiff’s visit to Philadelphia this weekend, I heard one speak of his actions of bringing gays and others once shunned by the Church back into the fold as “restoring ties,” a synonym for regeneration in reflection on Pluto’s role in our lives. This is also where we look for degeneration, excavation and, yes, restoration. We dig deeply where Pluto sits not only in the transiting and/or natal charts but as well in the natural zodiacal chart when we are examining the pieces of the astrological puzzle fitting so well together.
And although Ricki Reeves notes her observation of the quindecile as an obsession, in her book The Quindecile, astrologer John Davenport and I have explored the (former “quindecile”) undecaquartisextile further beyond the mere term “obsessive” since we agree that Pluto is obsessive–a word many astrologers have used for years in discussing Pluto. But let’s explore the quindecile to see what’s going on with this unique aspect:
If the (former “quindecile”) undecaquartisextile is simply an obsession, then perhaps we’re now looking at a need to name two quindeciles forming something similar to a yod. What if that sextile from the yod tightened to a semi-sextile along with the (former “quindecile”) undecaquartisextile degrees significantly tightened as well so they’re triggered simultaneously within a 24-hour period? Perhaps we can call this a (former proposed Grand Quindecile) Blooming Undecaquartisextile while the midpoint Solstice/Equinox angles at 15° each of Aries (AR)/Libra (LI) and Cancer (CN)/Capricorn (CP) assume heightened power in what can be called (former Quindecile Shadow Yod) Undecaquartisextile Shadow Yod.
During these conversations, John and I also discussed the term “inconjunct” which is one of the most vague terms astrologers have ever used. The prefix “in-” negates the word “conjunct,” meaning “within an acceptable orb of 0°. Therefore, any aspect that isn’t conjunct is actually inconjunct and therefore quite incongruent! This is actually why you may never see me using the term “inconjunct.” A quincunx is 150°. A sextile is also not conjunct. It’s 60°. A quindecile is not conjunct. It’s 165°. And a semi-sextile is not an inconjunct. It’s 30°, and it’s reactive. Along these Solstice/Equinox lines, the reactions are actually heightened, which is why we expanded to note the (former Quindecile) Undecaquartisextile Shadow Yod because here, the (former Grand Quindecile) Blooming Undecaquartisextile also forms the (former Quindecile) Undecaquartisextile Shadow Yod.
I learned Solstice Points before the terms “antiscion” (singular) and “antiscia” (plural) came to my understandings, and that became habit. Some of my readers may have noted through the years that my use of these terms has been evolving to include these two terms as synonyms, which they are. For those who haven’t seen my simple use of the table one can memorize quickly, I’m sharing it here:
