2 April 12:59 UK and 3 April in the US. The last time I wrote about Mercury cazimi it was in Sagittarius, where I go a bit more in-depth with the meaning of Cazimi.
This time having the Sun exalted in Aries – I like to think of children playing the old-fashioned game “I’m the king of the castle! (you’re a dirty rascal!)” while competing to stand on the highest tump of ground, or whatever else could be surmounted, to make the claim. The trumpeting of triumph, the echoing call to adventure.
But you must be quick – cazimi, that place where a planet is either exactly conjoined with the Sun, or else by but one degree, is very, very brief; just a few hours with the quick planet. When Mercury separates from this closeness of aspect, he is no longer on the podium, he is being burned by the bright hotness of the singularly triumphant star.
Mercury has undergone a rebirth and will be a blinking infant for many days before he emerges, a roving youth, from under the Sun’s beams. When he does so he will be in mid-Taurus around the 18th of April, visible as Phosphorus, Evening Star.
What can you expect with Mercury conjunct the sun in Aries?
The Sun superheats what it touches, and alters the significations of the planet. Mercury, already being dry, becomes drier; this isn’t the intellect of the imagination, but the acute critic, the succinct takedown, the lean approval. Planets become brilliant when conjoined with the Sun, and so Mercury is intellectually precise, dexterous, and quick. Perception and clarity of vision are 20/20.
The fascination with information circles around facts, data, method, like a falcon stooping to catch a sparrow. Birds of prey are called raptors from the Latin ‘raptare’ meaning “to seize and carry off”. And Mercury has his eagle eye on the bright gems of knowledge sparkling far below the Sun.
The fast planet is sped up both by Aries and the crucible of the Sun. Thinking and physical reflexes become quicker; the ability to process information in volume at speed, to communicate through many different means at once and this may come at a price; burnout, hyperactivity, an unraveling of a tornado.
Mercury, like the Eagle of the Sun, has climbed high and will fire his siren call. The air raid warning is such a simple sound and has one obvious, monstrous meaning that sends people into immediate action. This is what it means to be in Aries. There is urgency and force to communication. The bold impatience of Aries can help or hinder; sometimes you need speed, to tell it like it is, to give the command. But where tact and diplomacy are needed Aries can be without a friend. The lack of hesitation can make a champion or be the wrong move, and Aries only finds out later.
This is a time to articulate exactly what you mean because when you do it will be diamond clear. You will be able to ignite fires of inspiration like touch paper. Be careful, now, because your words will have greater power, and they are in a hot, dry place that is not the most caring. Exercise caution around topics that are sensitive, try to frame things with consideration to others.
In your own chart look to the house, this aspect is in; it is at 13 degrees and 10 minutes of Aries. The house it occupies describes the nature it will take in your life, where to make yourself heard. Aspects from your chart to this and other transits will inform you as to whether you can pull no punches, or you should exercise great caution.
Eyes in the Sky: My own personal cazimi of the eyes.
Horus, the falcon-headed god of the Egyptians enjoyed the epithets including “he who is above” and “he who is distant.” He is the heavens and has as his right eye the Sun or Moring star, and as his left the Moon or Evening star. He is at times shown as a winged Sun disk. You couldn’t get more literal symbolism than this. The son of Isis and Osiris, whose enemy is Seth. In Greek mythology his counterpart is Apollo.
When I had laser eye treatment to correct my very short sight, once they had removed the surface of my eye, and adjusted my cornea, the surgeon told me;
“Take a very good look around you, Rebecca, because this is the best you will ever see. Right now, there is absolutely nothing between the lens of your eye and the world. No one else sees so clearly or perfectly as you. I am about to put a contact lens in your eyes to protect them, and from then on you will only see as other people see.”
I marveled at everything I saw, high definition even at a distance. Every edge was so crisp and clear – no wonder hawks can hunt. This was my personal cazimi for my sight.
With that, he sat me down and put in contact lenses. I was hurried from the building in dark sunglasses with painkillers and felt this rather rude, but I soon found out why. I tried to step into the passenger seat of the car. Something strange came over me, a ‘doom’ feeling, and I knew my eyes were about to shut involuntarily. “Quick! Quick!” I called, and my feet settling in the footwell was the last thing I saw for three days. For seven days my eyes were so sensitive to light I had to sit in the dark. I did nothing but rest, and it was as if I was only my tired, swaddled eyes. This is what it means to be combust by the sun. When the darkness was over my sight was 20/20. Another few weeks of dark sunglasses and being only indoors or in deep shade before life could resume as normal; this is what it means to be under the beams of the sun.
The blood and guts of the astrological event (technical bit):
Here is the chart for my surgery, on 19 June 2010, at approximately 12:45 (the appointment says 12:15 but I had to read and sign more documents and be prepared). My sight has deteriorated in the intervening years, which I knew it would, and which is why I had the surgery in the first place; to save me from reliance on glasses and near blindness without them.
You can see the Sun and Mercury at the top of the chart on either side of the MC. The MC is often referred to as what someone is known for, but that is because it is the highest the Sun will rise in the sky, on that given day, in that part of the world. It is what is most *visible*. The sign of Gemini often refers to multiples or at least pairs, and when the Sun or Moon are here that might well be the eyes.
Mercury is very fast, the Moon is also fast (symbolically the left eye), the Sun, whose speed varies only a tiny bit, is slow (symbolically the right eye; this eye is not as good as the left now).
Mercury is 10 degrees and 46 min from a conjunction with the Sun, and 9 days from doing so. So the symbolism isn’t perfect (I am kicking myself for not booking it 9 days later, haha!) but it is still close, given the placement in Gemini and on the MC. Because 9 days later Mercury and the Sun will be in Cancer.
The Sun is square Saturn; signifying a withdrawal from the world, and a denial of outward activity, of hearty wellness. Saturn is conjunct the Moon who is separating and will be conjunct Jupiter two weeks later, when I finish the medications and can take all of the eye coverings off in the day and night, a time to be healed by the greater benefic Jupiter. [something trad about satun-moon]
At the same time Saturn and the Moon oppose the disrupter Uranus and Jupiter together; in the short term traumatic to the eyes, but in the long term for health. These later two planets are in a gentle sextile to the Sun, representing the good that I did this. Uranus is also understood to be Prometheus; who stole fire and gave it to humans; here I am gifted with restored sight after the darkness of Saturn.
Mars, the planet of surgery is a sextile from the Sun; again – surgery for benefit, chosen, easy, non-critical, superficial.
Had I known astrology the way I do now back then I would have been sure to elect a date that avoided certain fixed stars associated with blindness, as it happens I missed them all. Nataly, I have Acumen 28.54 of Sagittarius, conjunct my Ascendant; 27.48 Sagittarius. This star when rising is associated with poor eyesight. In the chart for the surgery, it is at the bottom of the chart, conjunct the part of fortune (not shown) at 27.47 of Sagittarius, and this is in opposition to the Sun by less than half a degree!
The bottom of the chart is what is literally ‘under’ the earth on the other side of the world. 7 days after my surgery, there was a Lunar eclipse that was invisible to me here in the UK, and most visible in Australia, at 4 degrees and 50 min of Capricorn; where Pluto is in the chart (4.16). Again the symbolism is clear; my sight was eclipsed by the surgery, I was blind, and I was stuck at home, in the 4th house.
This is how we layer up the symbolism, which to some degree we can predict, but to get the full details we only have hindsight, which is of course 20/20 for all of us.
Astrology Imaginarium 