Wednesday 23 October

Moon in Gemini

Back in the old days, somewhere in the dim dark past before digital cameras, I took photography classes.

I was working with a completely manual rangefinder style Pentax camera at first. It was about 50 years old and felt beautiful in the hand, and had that satisfying click of the shutter that only those old manual cameras have.

Then I graduated to something more modern- a medium entry manual SLR. In my fridge were rolls of slide film covering every speed from my beloved fuji velvia 50 ISO to a 1600 ISO for really poor light, some ilford black and white for blacks and whites that really popped.

Having slide film processed and printed was expensive, so there were decisions to be made in that split second before you clicked the shutter.  Did the scene need a warm up filter? If so, what grade? Perhaps a polarizer will make those clouds dance? Is the light ok for 100 ISO or do I need to open the aperture and slow the shutter speed to get it right.

Always, though, was the question of exposure.

We’d use a technique that runs from a midpoint known as 18% grey. Even though the mid range Nikon I use does all of this for me now, I still view a scene from the basis of midpoints.

Focusing on the midpoint, the point of neutrality (I used to use a grey card, but you can use grass or the back of your hand) allows you to bring the whole picture into correct exposure. Sometimes though, over or under exposing brings some incredible results. It allows you to see shadows and silhouettes and textures where before the surface felt somehow safe, predictable and flat.

Life’s like that. It’s the shade and textures we see from taking risks or letting things just unfold that make the picture interesting. Sure there’s some failures, but the highs when you get it right can be incredible.

Scorpio and her opposite Taurus are the most change resistant of the fixed signs. With Taurus, the status quo makes like cement- good or bad, you hold onto it. With Scorpio, fear and paranoia of the unknown has you emotionally attaching to whatever it is that needs to be altered- simply because the outcome is known and the alternative isn’t.

Wherever Scorpio is in your chart is where you’ll now be encouraged to lift the covers and look closely at that part of life- with all of it’s shadows and textures. You’ll need to look past the neutrality and see the reality.

Don’t worry, you’ll have help.  The first aspect the Sun in Scorpio will be making will be a trine to Neptune. Given that two of the most intuitive signs are involved, this is a spiritual aspect that should, if you pause for a minute to listen to it, be heard at the heart level.

And pausing, you should be. Mercury is newly retrograde and, being in Scorpio, will be working at stripping back any pretense and exposing the raw image. It’s all part of the ongoing Saturn lesson.