We survived April's grand cross and two eclipses. Hooray! Life just feels...lighter. We are not quite out of the woods just yet. The effect of April's activity is still at play, lingering on. Significantly reducing the sting from last month, however, May opens with one of the kindest celestial aspects: the Sun (our will) makes an incredibly helpful angle to transformer Pluto, both planets in earth signs Taurus and Capricorn. Also mitigating the havoc of last month is the Sun's lovely aspect to Jupiter (abundance) giving us a soft pillow to land on during the first week of May.
Where the grand cross pushed us out of old patterns, stretching us to the breaking point, Jupiter, the Sun and Pluto offer us the most fertile soil possible to plant our desires (Pluto). Sow now what you seek to reap later on; especially on the heels of the New Moon eclipse, it is a highly powerful time to manifest desires in spades during the coming months.
At the same time, we are cautioned by a "be careful what you wish for" pair. Mercury in earthy Taurus opposes Saturn in Scorpio. We are asked to think and evaluate our values. Mercury rules words, how we think and communicate. Scorpio Saturn drives to the root of the matter, insists we look deeply, be absolutely sure of our desires. Language, words, the right language are at play here. As are the correct use of verbage, language that can be heard, messages sorely needing to be delivered, feeling our language is insufficient or inefficient, making mistakes with words until we get it right. Try, try again to make your point, get your message across. There is a Mercury retrograde feel to this aspect as we are cautioned to be positive about what we really want before putting words into place, planting for permanence. When you are sure, go for it!
Egging us on to get down to the business of the life we really want, is Venus' entry into Aries on May 3rd. Where Mercury and Saturn plod along in fixed signs, all discipline and diligence, Venus in fiery Aries stokes our hearts, inflames and burns a fire under our feet to get going. Leap, seize the day before it disappears, impatiently says Venus in Aries, signaling a check and balance to our lives. Over analyzing details and facts (as Mercury opposing Saturn is prone to do) prevents us from grasping what lies right in front of us, beckons Venus. Take hold of the very solutions you seek to deeply embedded concerns. There are distinct advantages to Carpe Diem (seize the day), leaping first and figuring it all out later on; letting pieces fall where they may, sorting out and working through details over time. This is one of those moments. Grab the brass ring and hold tight to it. See where the magic carpet ride carries you. Satisfy Mercury-Saturn by writing it all down as you go so you can discern the meaning when the time comes.
Life really shifts into high gear when Mercury enters Geminii on May 7th. In its home sign, Mercury (how we think, speak and communicate) operates at warp speed. Your mind now clicks on all cylinders. Ideas, thoughts, conclusions and solutions that felt sluggish, out of reach, or intangible, now miraculously seep into our minds. For the brave and courageous who do seize chances and opportunities, Geminii Mercury delivers the how to part of the equation: how to make it all work, how to do it, like a veritable operations manual, suggesting, "try it this way or that way..."
The second week of May, the Sun slides into opposition with stalwart Saturn, testing our will, making sure we do not make rash decisions, continuing to monitor the checks and balances of our lives to counter Venus in Aries and Mercury in Geminii. This is particularly helpful as Messenger Mercury challenges hazy, dreamy Neptune. Illusion, disillusionment, deception are watchwords with this pair. Under their spell, it's best to ask: what is real versus what is illusion? Make sure you do not buy something that sounds too good to be true (it probably is), over commit yourself, or buy into a fantasy you cannot afford. The flip side of Mercury-Neptune offers a moment to stop, harness clarity and pristine insight instead. Know what you are getting yourself into. Take on only what you can manage. At the same time, Mercury makes a beautiful angle to Mars in Libra bolstering our energy to tackle what is on our plate, especially in the relationship arena. Creative ideas and solutions emerge to cut through the fog and disillusionment Neptune wields.
We will need all the help we can get via Mercury-Mars on the relationship front as mid-month gets particularly dicey. Venus challenges Pluto asking, "Is this the kind of person I want to be with?" Or more incisively, "Is this the person I want to be?" Thunderbolt insights and awakenings, surprise relationships occurring or surprises IN relationships and plot twists extraordinaire ramp up exponentially as Venus conjoins Uranus (planet of surprise, shock and awe), both challenging Pluto. You may feel the cosmos is pulling a massive joke on you but there is no escape under the intense glare and emotional gymnastics rendered by the Full Moon on May 14. Wow. Trigger happy comes to mind. Expect explosive moments now both on the individual and collective level. Rash, brash, unpredictable acts and incidents, relationship "accidents" (you know what I mean: affairs uncovered and/or unclaimed relationships emerge, etc) all come into play. At a minimum, mid month delivers relationship change. Think: band-aid ripped off a wound. This can be wildly unforseen or erupt after boiling under the surface for a long time. Bear in mind too that there is also an amazing quality to this time: meeting the man/woman of your dreams, huge money found/recovered/won, lottery winnings, hitting the jackpot, business deal bonanzas....
The Venus/Uranus-Pluto challenge also warns of fire, war and accidents. Around your home or office, take extra precautionary measures to ensure appliances are off before leaving and smoke detectors are in workng order. Slow down your motions. Take your time. This troika incites a tug-of-war with time. Ask: what is the hurry, where are you rushing to? The Russian front...? This threesome could very well incite a surge in the Ukranian-Russian conflict. Better to apply this immense energy to ask yourself the hard questions: "Am I bringing honesty and integrity to this relationship/situation?" Most cannot be bothered with introspection; rather, will feel compelled to pull the trigger now. Before you snap the trigger (or allow another to pull your trigger), take a breath. What will happen if you wait an hour, a day before acting or responding?
Giving tremendous ballast and long-term consequences to any of our actions, the Full Moon also conjoins heavyweight Saturn in Scorpio. Remember: our emotions trigger our thoughts which trigger our actions/words. If you can control and effectively maneuver your emotions, you can control your thoughts and deeds. Once you pull the trigger, there is no going back, no escape and no return to where you were before that moment. Be sure to act in accordance with your highest good as there will be significant consequences and repercussions from your words and actions at this time.
That said, those in untenable circumstances (the oppressed, abused or vicimized) have a pivotal opportunity to break free and reach safe haven now. Think: freedom, especially emotional freedom. Rarely has a better chance surfaced to stand up for yourself and your loved ones. Once you land safely (and a net always appears to catch you), you can stop, breathe, make plans for the next hour, day, week, month. Chart a new, healthier life now. There is no need to be victimized any longer.
As the Venus/Uranus pair challenges Jupiter (abundance), relationship clashes (particularly on the home/family/mother front) can escalate. Homeland/country, family, property, inheritance or estate matters can spiral into motion. For those escaping abusive situations, stand your ground. Do not give up. You may feel that a mountain of obstacles stands in your way. Remember, these are to be worked around and through. In terms of global unrest involving our human family, the effects of the Full Moon on May 14th are still much at play, as Mars, god of war turns direct on May 20th. The next day, the Sun enters communicative Geminii. A war of words may ensue; what Putin began in Ukraine back in March as Mars turned retrograde, could be undone. But not without a fight.
Ukrainian Russians (those that grew up under the old Soviet regime) are vying for position, will claim a stake of the Ukrainian homeland. They remember the relative security of a communist blanket and fear the uncertainty engendered by free market competition and a democratic system.
At the same time, big solutions are at hand with Jupiter in Cancer (motherland, mothers, food, family, nurturing, home and country) making a wonderful angle to Saturn in Scorpio (long-standing, deep-seeded matters). If we want them, solutions are available to us now and may be successfully applied. Hunger abated, homes bought and sold, property exchanged, inheritance gained, homeland defined and defended. It all depends on our willingness to open to possibilities. And then apply some elbow grease.
The Sun's challenge to Neptune during the final week of May can help us with this. The Sun represents our Will and Neptune is the Unifier. The offer us a question: will you remain closed, shut down and turned off, or are you able to soften, become inclusive, seek answers you have not considered before. A word of caution here: this duo lends itself to fantasy. Be careful of sly temptation in all varieties, especially being talked into [staying in] unhealthy situations or relationships, whether at work, partnership, family. Turn Sun-Neptune's potential into healthy, imaginative solutions when problem solving rather than pressing the escape button. Deal with the underlying cause. Be realistic. Think about what you can actually accomplish in a certain time frame. Try not to bite off more than you can chew.
On May 29th, Venus moves into its own sign of Taurus and Mercury shifts into maternal Cancer. These are highly complementary energies and will promote self-care and nurturing for those people and projects we are invested in. Our friends, our family...even if your family is not defined by blood relatives. And make sure to include yourself on that list. Venus-Mercury enhances and enriches our imagination: how do I best take care of myself? How do I most effectively nurture the people, ideas, career, home that I love?
A walk along the water's edge helps enormously to promote imagination. In the hustle-bustle of modern life, we've come to believe that taking time off is a waste of time. Au contraire. Venus-Mercury reminds us otherwise. A walk in the woods, near water, alone anywhere, is the most valuable time of all, to re-charge, let go, dive deep, explore, discover the wonders of our world, most especially our self. Fresh insights gained deliver magic solutions to what once befuddled and confused. Walk in good health.
Thursday, May 1, 2014
Sunday, March 30, 2014
Game Change: Two Eclipses and The Grand Cardinal Cross
Astrologers are a vast and diverse breed. So it is a rare event indeed when consensus occurs among our community as it does around April's heavyweight planetary events. For those of us in the business of explaining cosmic effects, we have asked ourselves how to break the news, gently. I have yet to hear of an astrologer who believes anyone will be left unchanged by the movements taking place this month. That is how significant a month lies ahead. It is one of those times when even the least introspective among us will shake their heads and ask, "what on earth is happening?"
As the days come flying at you, and they will, many rattled to the core, remember two words: brace yourself. Those born under the cardinal (action) signs of Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn will feel April's punch the strongest. That said, nearly everyone has planets (or rising signs) in one or more of these signs so expect some part of your life to shift. April taunts us to live each day as our last. But do yourself a favor while you are living life at full till: spend some time putting your affairs in order. Mars now in Libra sparks us to find balance.
Joining fiery Mars in the center of this challenging mix is radical Uranus causing sudden shifts and changes, dramatic, seemingly out of nowhere. Uranus is nicknamed "The Great Awakener" for this reason...jolting and shaking us out of our human slumber to pay attention. Where have you or the human collective passed by/ignored what we must focus and work on? Do it now, rattles Uranus. With Mars right behind lighting the match, these two change agents take center stage and guarantee April will not be subtle. Nothing short of a seismic month, April is highly volatile...but also affords extraordinary opportunity. It is a hope for the best but prepare for the worst kind of month.
As a person and astrologer, I am not one who leans toward negative projections as I firmly believe there are silver linings, hidden treasures and opportunities in every moment. So I have no doubt April will bring its share of untold breakthroughs, wildly creative solutions to stubborn problems and impossible dreams coming true. Foreshadowing great possibilities to come, the scientific Big Bang theory was recently confirmed via a series of experiments. What better way to lead into April than with validation of the very discovery of our Universal origins? What was once merely conjecture has now solidly earned a place in the Science Discovery Hall of Fame.
In whatever direction your life turns, one thing is for sure: the planetary coordinates point to a tremendous amount of energy about to be unleashed. So here's the deal:
The stage is set on the New Moon in Aries on March 30, when the Sun, Moon and radical Uranus all conjoin in Aries to form highly stressful angles to Jupiter and Pluto. The great beneficient energy, Jupiter in maternal Cancer opposes transformer Pluto in traditional Capricorn. Both Cancer and Capricorn have ties to the status quo, security, and established order. So as you can imagine, when Uranus literally shakes things up (Uranus rules lightning strikes and earthquakes), these two stable-minded energies are not happy. Change is afoot, says the March 30 New Moon. Uranus' very tight pairing with the Sun (your will) and the Moon (your emotions) says: expect the unexpected. How will you respond?
Those born in the 1960s will be shaken hardest by April. For the Sixties Pluto-Uranus in Virgo generation (read: hyper-planners, helicopter parents, the driven) now at mid-life, a thorough dislike for unpredictability is an understatement. Hatred, contempt and paranoia of not knowing the future is more like it. I belong to this group so I can accurately speak to this. However, April is our teacher, says it is make-or-break time, where the rubber meets the road in terms of learning life lessons. Surrender and surrender now. Key to surviving April is the Yiddish phrase: We plan, God laughs. Planning will only get you so far. This month, allowing, flowing, yielding are watchwords.
Each of us must go about our lives the best we can, doing what comes naturally. The business of your life must be taken care of. Still, if you have dragged your your feet anywhere, now is the time to heed the call, pay attention, attend to what you have ignored. Supporting our efforts in the first week of April is a harmonious angle between Venus in Aquarius (read: love and money) and action-oriented Mars in Libra. These two rule our male and female energy and in air signs we find unusual, out-of-the-box ideas and strategies for relationships as well as finance/how to earn money.
Also, Jupiter in nurturing Cancer aligns helpfully with Neptune in watery Pisces to clear away and clean up matters concerning family, food, inheritance, house/property/home and Mom. Be it your own mother, grandmother, maternal figures or your role as a parent. Beneficent Venus joins Neptune and further assists us in these arenas the week of April 7th.
The North Node of the Moon aligns with the Neptune-Venus pair, aiding relationhips, bringing clarity and pure understanding to those we may have difficulty with or deliver new heights of joy and love with those we cherish. At the same time, the Gang of Four, the planets involved in the Grand Cardinal Cross, (picture a square with each of four planets, Mars, Jupiter, Uranus and Pluto in separate corners) start moving into place for their exact positions on April 23. This is a Grand Planetary Stand-off. Transformer Pluto is at 13 degrees Capricorn, Jupiter at 12 degrees Cancer, Uranus at 12 degrees Aries as Mars slowly cycles backward in retrograde motion at 19 degrees Libra. Can you feel the Great Shift occurring? Uranus rules anything sudden, including accidents, what jars you, so we may see a spike in surprise events. We may be particularly challenged when the Sun opposes Mars from April 8th through the 11th.
Uranus also instigates revolutions and with its very stressful position to Pluto in Capricorn (The Establishment) we could see governments threatened (even toppled), big businesses collapse, stock markets plummet. Figuring squarely in the center of this storm is Vladmir Putin. Curiously, Putin is a Libra Sun sign, meaning: he seeks to please. Clearly, his life lesson is to learn diplomacy and negotiation. The G7 (formerly known as the G8) just kicked him out of the group. Their message: you can't just march into a country and land grab. After Putin claimed the Crimea last month, the G7 agreed to shut down financial access between their countries and Russia as well as terminate passport visa approval for Russians. The days of totalitarian takeovers are over. Economic allies won't be bullied. If you want to play at the Big Boys Table, you have to play nicely. Cooperatively. Or else suffer isolation. The former KGB mastermind is learning a hard lesson that the old ways of operating just do not work in the New World Order. The G7 message must be working, because as I write, Putin surprised President Obama with a call yesterday "seeking resolution to the Crimean situation." His phone call tees up precisely what's in store for April: game change.
Sit back and watch it all unfold as Mars continues its reverse motion, tightening the sharp angle to Uranus, Pluto and Jupiter leading into the full lunar eclipse on Tuesday, April 15th. This is the Full Moon eclipse many have talked about. It occurs smack in the middle of the Passover/Holy Week, between Palm Sunday and Easter. As a reminder, eclipses are cosmic windows that blow fresh air into our lives where we need to grow and develop. Picture electronic doors that open before you when you step on the magnetic mat. Open, you may enter. Depending on where eclipses occur in your chart, you are called to focus on that segment of your life. The April 15th eclipse occurs at 25 degrees Libra, affecting the areas of relationship (including with ourselves), art, beauty, diplomacy, balance. Time now to bring us, and the world, into balance. Often, lunar eclipses bring aspects of our lives to culmination, full fruition, so that we may turn to new chapters and frontiers yet to be explored. The composition of this full lunar eclipse truly serves as an immense catalyst to bring one cycle to conclusion in order to push humanity forward. As goes the individual, so goes the collective...
Giving tremendous gravitas to this particular eclipse is Pluto's retrograde turn the day prior. We are forced to dig really deep if we haven't already. Yes is the only acceptable answer now. Definitively, squarely, firmly. Refusing or resisting is futile. We must journey down the rabbit hole, like it or not. You know where you need to do the work.
Lessening the strife that arises is healer Chiron's supportive angle to Responsible Saturn. Where there is emotional and healing work to be done, this duo rushes to the scene like an emergency trauma team. Additionally, Venus in Pisces joins Chiron and Saturn reducing pain with ample love, money, empathy and understanding as we begin exploring the black holes of our lives. The plot thickens and the stakes heighten. Eclipses occur in two's and three's and this month we have two: the second, a solar eclipse, on the 29th. Sandwiched between the two, is something akin to The Twilight Zone, an abyss where whatever you seek to put into motion falls flat. The days between eclipses are notorious voids.
During this particular straight, it is especially true, driven home. Because on April 23rd, planetary configurations reach critical mass. Life comes to a gigantic head via the Grand Cardinal Cross. Remember the square I mentioned earlier with Pluto, Mars, Jupiter and Uranus? Well it is now a boxing ring, a perfectly formed square as Mars moves into exact position to challenge the other three. All four planets now stand off at 13 degrees of cardinal (action) signs Capricorn, Libra, Cancer, and Aries. Let the games begin. Whatever you start may be completely interrupted now. It is not a time to make bets, seal the deal, gamble the family fortune, sign vital documents, take a job, or initiate relationships. Instead, hold on to your hat. Literally. We are pushed and pushed. Think Cosmic Labor Pain. Wow. Divorces spin into high gear, relationships that are not meant to be terminate, the food supply is squeezed due to the unending California drought, long established entities and traditions break down...all to make way for the new... people, jobs, efforts, habits/routines, and creations which are in alignment with who you really are and are intended to be.
A solid strategy for the weeks of April 14-30 is to observe and stand guard, for you can be sure there are multitudes who will act, react and overreact now. Lay low. Tread lightly. As well-known astrologer Michael Lutin has said: "When something is over, all you are left with is how you handled it." If ever there was a time to think before you speak or act, now is it. It is not an overstatement to say that the immense potential for huge force to be emitted, wielded and projected may spawn rebellion, upheaval, earthquakes, and breakthroughs.
Breakthroughs...that is the very image of an earthquake.
Seismic activity is in full swing already. California's recent shakes are symptomatic of the entire ring of fire activated from Chile through the Asian Pacific region. The good news is that the rattling and shaking, lightning strike energy will dissipate the final week of the month as we head into the New Moon solar eclipse on April 29th. The Sun (our will) and Mercury (how we think and communicate) move into stable Taurus, cooling off emotions fired up by Aries. Calmer heads prevail especially as the Sun and Mercury helpfully align with Jupiter in Cancer the last days of April. Some may wake up this week and find themselves in an emotional wasteland or mental post-apocolyptic state asking was it all worth it? Where do I go from here?
The finest period to stretch your wings and plant seeds for a fresh start is Springtime. The New Moon on April 29th in earthy Taurus affords plenty of fertile ground. "Some changes look negative on the surface but you will soon realize that space is being created in your life for something new to emerge," says Eckart Tolle. Choose love, not fear. Say a prayer; make a wish; light a candle. Go.
As the days come flying at you, and they will, many rattled to the core, remember two words: brace yourself. Those born under the cardinal (action) signs of Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn will feel April's punch the strongest. That said, nearly everyone has planets (or rising signs) in one or more of these signs so expect some part of your life to shift. April taunts us to live each day as our last. But do yourself a favor while you are living life at full till: spend some time putting your affairs in order. Mars now in Libra sparks us to find balance.
Joining fiery Mars in the center of this challenging mix is radical Uranus causing sudden shifts and changes, dramatic, seemingly out of nowhere. Uranus is nicknamed "The Great Awakener" for this reason...jolting and shaking us out of our human slumber to pay attention. Where have you or the human collective passed by/ignored what we must focus and work on? Do it now, rattles Uranus. With Mars right behind lighting the match, these two change agents take center stage and guarantee April will not be subtle. Nothing short of a seismic month, April is highly volatile...but also affords extraordinary opportunity. It is a hope for the best but prepare for the worst kind of month.
As a person and astrologer, I am not one who leans toward negative projections as I firmly believe there are silver linings, hidden treasures and opportunities in every moment. So I have no doubt April will bring its share of untold breakthroughs, wildly creative solutions to stubborn problems and impossible dreams coming true. Foreshadowing great possibilities to come, the scientific Big Bang theory was recently confirmed via a series of experiments. What better way to lead into April than with validation of the very discovery of our Universal origins? What was once merely conjecture has now solidly earned a place in the Science Discovery Hall of Fame.
In whatever direction your life turns, one thing is for sure: the planetary coordinates point to a tremendous amount of energy about to be unleashed. So here's the deal:
The stage is set on the New Moon in Aries on March 30, when the Sun, Moon and radical Uranus all conjoin in Aries to form highly stressful angles to Jupiter and Pluto. The great beneficient energy, Jupiter in maternal Cancer opposes transformer Pluto in traditional Capricorn. Both Cancer and Capricorn have ties to the status quo, security, and established order. So as you can imagine, when Uranus literally shakes things up (Uranus rules lightning strikes and earthquakes), these two stable-minded energies are not happy. Change is afoot, says the March 30 New Moon. Uranus' very tight pairing with the Sun (your will) and the Moon (your emotions) says: expect the unexpected. How will you respond?
Those born in the 1960s will be shaken hardest by April. For the Sixties Pluto-Uranus in Virgo generation (read: hyper-planners, helicopter parents, the driven) now at mid-life, a thorough dislike for unpredictability is an understatement. Hatred, contempt and paranoia of not knowing the future is more like it. I belong to this group so I can accurately speak to this. However, April is our teacher, says it is make-or-break time, where the rubber meets the road in terms of learning life lessons. Surrender and surrender now. Key to surviving April is the Yiddish phrase: We plan, God laughs. Planning will only get you so far. This month, allowing, flowing, yielding are watchwords.
Each of us must go about our lives the best we can, doing what comes naturally. The business of your life must be taken care of. Still, if you have dragged your your feet anywhere, now is the time to heed the call, pay attention, attend to what you have ignored. Supporting our efforts in the first week of April is a harmonious angle between Venus in Aquarius (read: love and money) and action-oriented Mars in Libra. These two rule our male and female energy and in air signs we find unusual, out-of-the-box ideas and strategies for relationships as well as finance/how to earn money.
Also, Jupiter in nurturing Cancer aligns helpfully with Neptune in watery Pisces to clear away and clean up matters concerning family, food, inheritance, house/property/home and Mom. Be it your own mother, grandmother, maternal figures or your role as a parent. Beneficent Venus joins Neptune and further assists us in these arenas the week of April 7th.
The North Node of the Moon aligns with the Neptune-Venus pair, aiding relationhips, bringing clarity and pure understanding to those we may have difficulty with or deliver new heights of joy and love with those we cherish. At the same time, the Gang of Four, the planets involved in the Grand Cardinal Cross, (picture a square with each of four planets, Mars, Jupiter, Uranus and Pluto in separate corners) start moving into place for their exact positions on April 23. This is a Grand Planetary Stand-off. Transformer Pluto is at 13 degrees Capricorn, Jupiter at 12 degrees Cancer, Uranus at 12 degrees Aries as Mars slowly cycles backward in retrograde motion at 19 degrees Libra. Can you feel the Great Shift occurring? Uranus rules anything sudden, including accidents, what jars you, so we may see a spike in surprise events. We may be particularly challenged when the Sun opposes Mars from April 8th through the 11th.
Uranus also instigates revolutions and with its very stressful position to Pluto in Capricorn (The Establishment) we could see governments threatened (even toppled), big businesses collapse, stock markets plummet. Figuring squarely in the center of this storm is Vladmir Putin. Curiously, Putin is a Libra Sun sign, meaning: he seeks to please. Clearly, his life lesson is to learn diplomacy and negotiation. The G7 (formerly known as the G8) just kicked him out of the group. Their message: you can't just march into a country and land grab. After Putin claimed the Crimea last month, the G7 agreed to shut down financial access between their countries and Russia as well as terminate passport visa approval for Russians. The days of totalitarian takeovers are over. Economic allies won't be bullied. If you want to play at the Big Boys Table, you have to play nicely. Cooperatively. Or else suffer isolation. The former KGB mastermind is learning a hard lesson that the old ways of operating just do not work in the New World Order. The G7 message must be working, because as I write, Putin surprised President Obama with a call yesterday "seeking resolution to the Crimean situation." His phone call tees up precisely what's in store for April: game change.
Sit back and watch it all unfold as Mars continues its reverse motion, tightening the sharp angle to Uranus, Pluto and Jupiter leading into the full lunar eclipse on Tuesday, April 15th. This is the Full Moon eclipse many have talked about. It occurs smack in the middle of the Passover/Holy Week, between Palm Sunday and Easter. As a reminder, eclipses are cosmic windows that blow fresh air into our lives where we need to grow and develop. Picture electronic doors that open before you when you step on the magnetic mat. Open, you may enter. Depending on where eclipses occur in your chart, you are called to focus on that segment of your life. The April 15th eclipse occurs at 25 degrees Libra, affecting the areas of relationship (including with ourselves), art, beauty, diplomacy, balance. Time now to bring us, and the world, into balance. Often, lunar eclipses bring aspects of our lives to culmination, full fruition, so that we may turn to new chapters and frontiers yet to be explored. The composition of this full lunar eclipse truly serves as an immense catalyst to bring one cycle to conclusion in order to push humanity forward. As goes the individual, so goes the collective...
Giving tremendous gravitas to this particular eclipse is Pluto's retrograde turn the day prior. We are forced to dig really deep if we haven't already. Yes is the only acceptable answer now. Definitively, squarely, firmly. Refusing or resisting is futile. We must journey down the rabbit hole, like it or not. You know where you need to do the work.
Lessening the strife that arises is healer Chiron's supportive angle to Responsible Saturn. Where there is emotional and healing work to be done, this duo rushes to the scene like an emergency trauma team. Additionally, Venus in Pisces joins Chiron and Saturn reducing pain with ample love, money, empathy and understanding as we begin exploring the black holes of our lives. The plot thickens and the stakes heighten. Eclipses occur in two's and three's and this month we have two: the second, a solar eclipse, on the 29th. Sandwiched between the two, is something akin to The Twilight Zone, an abyss where whatever you seek to put into motion falls flat. The days between eclipses are notorious voids.
During this particular straight, it is especially true, driven home. Because on April 23rd, planetary configurations reach critical mass. Life comes to a gigantic head via the Grand Cardinal Cross. Remember the square I mentioned earlier with Pluto, Mars, Jupiter and Uranus? Well it is now a boxing ring, a perfectly formed square as Mars moves into exact position to challenge the other three. All four planets now stand off at 13 degrees of cardinal (action) signs Capricorn, Libra, Cancer, and Aries. Let the games begin. Whatever you start may be completely interrupted now. It is not a time to make bets, seal the deal, gamble the family fortune, sign vital documents, take a job, or initiate relationships. Instead, hold on to your hat. Literally. We are pushed and pushed. Think Cosmic Labor Pain. Wow. Divorces spin into high gear, relationships that are not meant to be terminate, the food supply is squeezed due to the unending California drought, long established entities and traditions break down...all to make way for the new... people, jobs, efforts, habits/routines, and creations which are in alignment with who you really are and are intended to be.
A solid strategy for the weeks of April 14-30 is to observe and stand guard, for you can be sure there are multitudes who will act, react and overreact now. Lay low. Tread lightly. As well-known astrologer Michael Lutin has said: "When something is over, all you are left with is how you handled it." If ever there was a time to think before you speak or act, now is it. It is not an overstatement to say that the immense potential for huge force to be emitted, wielded and projected may spawn rebellion, upheaval, earthquakes, and breakthroughs.
Breakthroughs...that is the very image of an earthquake.
Seismic activity is in full swing already. California's recent shakes are symptomatic of the entire ring of fire activated from Chile through the Asian Pacific region. The good news is that the rattling and shaking, lightning strike energy will dissipate the final week of the month as we head into the New Moon solar eclipse on April 29th. The Sun (our will) and Mercury (how we think and communicate) move into stable Taurus, cooling off emotions fired up by Aries. Calmer heads prevail especially as the Sun and Mercury helpfully align with Jupiter in Cancer the last days of April. Some may wake up this week and find themselves in an emotional wasteland or mental post-apocolyptic state asking was it all worth it? Where do I go from here?
The finest period to stretch your wings and plant seeds for a fresh start is Springtime. The New Moon on April 29th in earthy Taurus affords plenty of fertile ground. "Some changes look negative on the surface but you will soon realize that space is being created in your life for something new to emerge," says Eckart Tolle. Choose love, not fear. Say a prayer; make a wish; light a candle. Go.
Saturday, March 1, 2014
Works in Progress: Pisces says Dream a Little Dream
I admit, looking at the astrological coordinates for March, I felt intimidated. There is SO much to cover in this month's blog. I grit my teeth and buckled down. Where to begin? Of course, came the reply. Start where anyone with a mountain of a project in front them begins: with the first step. Break March down, by day then week to outline the on-coming energy. Allow time, more time, to work through the task. Maybe write the blog over two days instead of one. Before I knew it, the month was covered, my blog written. Breaking things apart into smaller, more manageable bits to completion is so practically helpful to work through any task or get through any given day.
We teach our children this strategy. But as adults, we often forget that we are still learning too, developing. When swamped and on overload, it's best to hit the brakes and come to a complete stop. Then, bite off only what we can finish in an hour, or an afternoon. Having a few minor tasks checked off the list, you can feel yourself breathe more easily. Breathe through the work ahead, for there is a lot to be done, created, shared.
A wise man once said: Life is like a labor pain; we are giving birth to ourselves. Please bear this in mind as we move through the next months ahead. 2014 promises to be a ride. If January and February haven't already delivered you through "the days of shock and awe" as Judaism refers to it, count yourself among the fortunate few. Most of us will be bumped and jolted so try to remember the above quotation when shock and awe strike. Pain is the handmaiden of evolution. We are living in rare times. Truly, a pivotal moment. Think of yourself as a piece of clay worked on by a sculptor. Each of us is molded into becoming our most evolved, completed self. But the pushing and pinchng, chipping away with the sculptor's tools do not feel easy, smooth, painless. Best to visualize you as your finished self. Keep that image alive: how you look, where you go and with whom, how you act.
For as March kicks off, the sculptor is in full swing, carving, chipping, shaping us. There is enough planetary activity this month to make our heads spin. We will feel, if we do not already, like car gears shifting faster than we can control. If you ever learned how to drive a stick-shift, manual car, this is how the beginning of March will feel. No less than five planets shift between February 28 and March 6th, plus we have two new moons this month. Facing the prospect of outlining all of the celestial motion, my head gets warbly and I must remember to stop, put one foot in front of the other. Cue Julie Andrews from the "Sound of Music": Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start...
February 28th, messenger Mercury turned direct motion. When retrograde, we can often feel as though we are spinning our wheels as delay after miscommunication followed by disconnects occur. Once direct, this energy will slowly diminish. Normally with Mercury's direct turn, we feel the gears switch us forward, where we can jump right into decisions, actions, signing documents... Not so fast say the planets. The first week of March it's best to inch forward with plans. Because bang, bang go Mars and Saturn, one right after the other. No sooner has Mercury turned direct than activator Mars and taskmaster Saturn turn retrograde on March 1st and 2nd. On top of it all, their reverse direction happens on a New Moon. Feel the jolting, abrupt forward and back motion of shifting gears? Kind of like a Cosmic spin cycle. Try not to be motion sick. Just put your head down and follow the regular New Moon prescription: meditate, pray, wish, think quietly to yourself about your intentions for the coming weeks, month and year. Plant those firmly in your consciousness and water regularly with positive thoughts.
Mars rules our get-up-and-go. It has been cycling through the artistic and relationship sign of Libra since last December where it will remain until July 2014! Once turned inward in Libra, we are asked to review our inner talents, our relationship to these, ourselves and those who populate our lives. Mars is tightly conjoined with the lunar North Node, the directional point calling our name and urging us forward. In yet another change up, the evolutionary lunar nodes moved from Scorpio/Taurus into Libra/Aries in the latter weeks of February. The North Node in Libra focuses our attention toward art, beauty, diplomacy, grace, relationship, design, aesthetics. Combined with retrograde Mars, we are invited to reveal our inner artist and afforded ample opportunity for relationship do-overs. This includes with our selves as well as those we live and work with.
With Saturn moving inward in Scorpio, we can plumb the depths of our psyches, our deepest inner reaches to do real soul work and leave no part of our lives unturned. For those preferring to live unexamined lives, this is hard work indeed. For those with more fortitude and grace, wisdom, it is an opportunity to review what works for us, be it how we earn a living and share resources to who we share our lives with.
Only days later, on March 5th, planet of relationship and money, Venus, switches into inventive, eclectic Aquarius, a radical sign that the comfort-loving, artistic planet is not terribly comfortable in. The effect? Game change. If you are in the flow of life, then new and ingenious methods, out of the box thinking for dealing with relationships will occur. Interesting and alternative people arise out of nowhere to add variety to your days. For others, surprises, shocks and jolts, radical manuevers, unpredictable behavior can happen from those you thought you knew. All the while, the Sun's tight proximity to watery Neptune can make us feel confused, ungrounded, adrift. It is a good time to float rather than fight.
So it is very fortunate when the next day on March 6th, like a mother's tender embrace, Jupiter turns direct motion in maternal Cancer. The great benefic opens her arms to cradle and comfort, tell us every little thing is gonna be all right. As the Sun and Neptune move apart, we beging to see with
greater clarity, believe the direction we should follow. At its greatest potential, the Sun in Pisces along with Neptune offers the unity of all souls. Reminds us of the illusion of separateness, that no soul [human being or animal] is superior to another. For the true essence of Pisces, think: George Harrison, Albert Einstein, George Washington. How utterly different people they were: musician, scientist, warrior/statesman, yet unifiers ALL. A key piece to take away from the Sun-Neptune pairing is intuition. To harness that little voice inside. They remind us to really listen and follow our natural-born wisdom, inherent inner guidance system. In our overly mechanized, hyper intellectualized "show me" world, imagination and intuition are treated like the ugly step children of the psyche, relegated to the back halls of our minds.
Helping us to effectively utilize our intuition to repair and clarify relationships is healer Chiron, which paired with Neptune make a beautiful angle to the North Node and Mars in Libra. Like soap under hot water, the Great Dissolver Neptune will break apart and wash away those parts of ourselves and those people who no longer serve our best interests. Clinging fiercely to old patterns and people will only strengthen the cleansing process: forcing Neptunian waves to become wider, taller, hit harder. Let go. Surrender. If you allow yourself to, you will be amazed how deeply healing this month can be; indeed this planetary combination is healing on all fronts: much needed rain is finally falling for the first time in months in California. With Mars in the mix, the state may be deluged, so let's hope homes and businesses will not be washed away.
As Neptune rules dreams, this same configuration brings avid night (and day) dreams. Most of us are so boxed in by concrete, evidential lives that, like our intuition and imagination, the importance of dreams is often forgotten. We all dream. When you do, in the morning try remembering your dreams and consider keeping a dream journal to reflect back on, to see if there are correlations to your waking life or patterns in your dreams themselves. Allow yourself to daydream. It is OK to put your phone away, take a walk in the woods, insert your ear buds and listen to music, sit quietly at lunch rather than following the usual routine of eating with co-workers. Reverie. What comes of it? Disconnected murmurings? Or, heart-centered soul connections, flags trying to get our attention, perhaps asking...is this how you want to spend your days on earth? Is this who you want to pass your precious time with?
Fantasize about anything that offers pure joy. An article in the on-line Slate magazine recently highlighted the Dalai Lama's encounter with a waitress. As she served him, she asked what no one else on his American tour had dared: What is the meaning of life? "Easy answer," the Dalai Lama said. "Happiness. But harder question to answer is, what makes happiness?" March affords ample opportunity to cogitate about what makes you happy, to clean up our act, get it together before the onslaught of April and springtime. The first week of March wraps up what the first two months of 2014 ignited with days of shock and awe, forcing most of us (and especially those not aligned with their highest good) to dig really deep and ask the hard questions. What does make you happy? As the Dalai Lama posed to the waitress: is it a lot of money, a big house, a generous and giving heart, compassion?
By March 7-8th, the Neptunian haze lifts as the first quarter moon of that weekend calls for action. By the end of the first week, when our head stops spinning from the jumping and jolting, we'll be ready to get going. Where have you been holding back, ruminating, it is time to push forward. After the 8th, the planets begin to settle and in turn calm us down to slowly take steps toward our goals.
Since January, titanic benefic Jupiter has challenged transformer Pluto and radical Uranus causing shifts in our traditions, responsibilities, diet, established systems and patterns, home life, property, family relationships especially to our mothers or our roles as mother. This energy heightens from March 10 through the 18th during the Full Moon (ruler of house, home, mom, food and family) on March 16th. The next day, March 17th, messenger Mercury enters Pisces, joining the Sun (our will), healer Chiron and dreamy Neptune, encouraging us to dream, allow music to heal us, meander and linger a little while longer. The magic and joy of children stems from the uninhibited world they inhabit. Allow yourself to feel that again.
The slippery flip side of this dreamy, fantasy combination is to understand the messy, morphing line between healthy dreams and fantasizing versus escapism and disillusionment. Mercury rules how we think and speak so while in Pisces it is great for enhancing our vision; but be wary of mirages. Or getting caught up in appearances; image, in fact is a mirage. The key to this moment in our lives is the realization that it does not matter what others think about us. Do the right thing. Honor your truth. Live honestly.
Enter Pluto in Capricorn. Nothing like the Transformer of our Desires in down to earth, practical Capricorn to bring focus to our visions and dreams, a hard core reality check. Pluto takes our Piscean dreams and breaks them into small, bite-sized chunks enabling us to put them into effect, a la the beginning of this blog... Pluto bears down asking, are your actions honorable? Are you acting with the utmost integrity and responsibility? With such a heavy dose of the Piscean planetary combo it is so easy to tell ourselves something is true. Live the lie. We so want to believe. A pragmatic antidote for all the purply, glowing fantasy is to make sure you've looked at every side of the situation, relationship, job, etc. Ask, is there something you are choosing to ignore, willfully deny? Pluto's helpful angle to planets in watery Pisces soaks up all of that run off, channels and drains our dreamy puddle paintings with earthy Capricorn solutions. If things get really out of hand, the Dark One (Pluto) isn't afraid of pulling out his big guns, Draconian measures. Think of the Ukranian President. After months of willful resistance to protestors in Kiev, he literally ran away. His lavish home and lifestyle exposed (Pluto's favorite trick) to the struggling Ukranians. Charades, facades and falsehoods will not stand now, virtually break down. It is our individual right to choose surreality or the real deal. Choose wisely, the path that might be harder in the short term will serve you best in the long run.
All this strife is enough to make you want to bury your head in the sand. But when we step back and look at the bigger picture, we know this is the work of our human existance and every day life: to pull ourselves up and do what must be done, the task ahead, like it or not. Lighting a fire under us, the Sun (our will) enters Aries. Harness the Fearless Warrior, Great Initiator, Brazen Pioneer to forge ahead. We can feel our will strengthen and come alive. After the endless winter in the Northern Hemisphere, we need all the optimism and courage we can muster.
Where Pisces is dreamy and reflective, Aries is apt to rush headlong into life, leaping first and asking questions later. Mercury conjoins Neptune in Pisces at the same time, March 20-24, to have us consider how best to apply our dreams. With Mars and the lunar North Node in artistic Libra, the first part of spring is a time of explosive ingenuity and heightened creativity. Musicians, artists, your inner artist: BE FREE! Let loose those dreams and see where they carry you.
This applies to creativity around the home, food/cooking, maternal roles. With Jupiter now direct in motherly Cancer, house and home, food, real estate projects can really take off. Our attention will focus on the sale of homes, interior design (projects or businesses), large or small scale home improvements (especially involving the soul center of the home...the kitchen), our diet and cooking. Paint one wall of a room with a vibrant, eye-catching color, visit galleries and invest in a work of art that you treasure, something priceless and precious to hand down as an heirloom. Whether you decide to become a gourmet chef or simply take an adult education class about desserts, start an addition on your house or just freshen up your bed/bathroom with new linens, energy directed on this front will be well targeted. You may not think of it as healing, but spring cleaning is a time-honored rite for a reason. Clearing away those winter cobwebs, purging the excess everything, clothes, household items, toys, stuff, is a wholistic way to prepare for the warmer months.
Jupiter in Cancer involves Mom and nations too. First mom. How is your mom and/or what is your role as a mother? Either are probably changing and in flux. Next, the Motherland. The Piscean energy of March encourages countries experiencing strife, Venezuela, Syria, Ukraine, Egypt, to work toward unification and peaceful solutions. However, as the Sun moves into Aries (god of war), April promises to be unsettled at best. We already see shades of this with Russian troops moving into the Crimea, southern Ukraine. April has the possibility to be monunmental in one or way or another. So think of March as a training period. With the Olympics still fresh in our minds, make like an athlete preparing for a great race. Prepare yourself for the new and oncoming challenges yet to be, prospects lined up but outcome unknown. On March 30th we are offered a second New Moon, another chance to make wishes, set intentions, and say prayers. Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me....Let's live as honestly as possible so to rise up for what will surely greet us next month.
Raves and Recommendations
If you live in the Boston area, please check out the practice of Susan Jenness! She is an exceptional Reiki healer and yoga instructor located in Watertown. I cannot recommend her highly enough. Please visit her website: www.sanctuaryforyogaandreiki.com to learn more about Susan, her work and class schedules. I recently treated myself to one of her Reiki healing sessions and emerged feeling like a whole new human being.
We teach our children this strategy. But as adults, we often forget that we are still learning too, developing. When swamped and on overload, it's best to hit the brakes and come to a complete stop. Then, bite off only what we can finish in an hour, or an afternoon. Having a few minor tasks checked off the list, you can feel yourself breathe more easily. Breathe through the work ahead, for there is a lot to be done, created, shared.
A wise man once said: Life is like a labor pain; we are giving birth to ourselves. Please bear this in mind as we move through the next months ahead. 2014 promises to be a ride. If January and February haven't already delivered you through "the days of shock and awe" as Judaism refers to it, count yourself among the fortunate few. Most of us will be bumped and jolted so try to remember the above quotation when shock and awe strike. Pain is the handmaiden of evolution. We are living in rare times. Truly, a pivotal moment. Think of yourself as a piece of clay worked on by a sculptor. Each of us is molded into becoming our most evolved, completed self. But the pushing and pinchng, chipping away with the sculptor's tools do not feel easy, smooth, painless. Best to visualize you as your finished self. Keep that image alive: how you look, where you go and with whom, how you act.
For as March kicks off, the sculptor is in full swing, carving, chipping, shaping us. There is enough planetary activity this month to make our heads spin. We will feel, if we do not already, like car gears shifting faster than we can control. If you ever learned how to drive a stick-shift, manual car, this is how the beginning of March will feel. No less than five planets shift between February 28 and March 6th, plus we have two new moons this month. Facing the prospect of outlining all of the celestial motion, my head gets warbly and I must remember to stop, put one foot in front of the other. Cue Julie Andrews from the "Sound of Music": Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start...
February 28th, messenger Mercury turned direct motion. When retrograde, we can often feel as though we are spinning our wheels as delay after miscommunication followed by disconnects occur. Once direct, this energy will slowly diminish. Normally with Mercury's direct turn, we feel the gears switch us forward, where we can jump right into decisions, actions, signing documents... Not so fast say the planets. The first week of March it's best to inch forward with plans. Because bang, bang go Mars and Saturn, one right after the other. No sooner has Mercury turned direct than activator Mars and taskmaster Saturn turn retrograde on March 1st and 2nd. On top of it all, their reverse direction happens on a New Moon. Feel the jolting, abrupt forward and back motion of shifting gears? Kind of like a Cosmic spin cycle. Try not to be motion sick. Just put your head down and follow the regular New Moon prescription: meditate, pray, wish, think quietly to yourself about your intentions for the coming weeks, month and year. Plant those firmly in your consciousness and water regularly with positive thoughts.
Mars rules our get-up-and-go. It has been cycling through the artistic and relationship sign of Libra since last December where it will remain until July 2014! Once turned inward in Libra, we are asked to review our inner talents, our relationship to these, ourselves and those who populate our lives. Mars is tightly conjoined with the lunar North Node, the directional point calling our name and urging us forward. In yet another change up, the evolutionary lunar nodes moved from Scorpio/Taurus into Libra/Aries in the latter weeks of February. The North Node in Libra focuses our attention toward art, beauty, diplomacy, grace, relationship, design, aesthetics. Combined with retrograde Mars, we are invited to reveal our inner artist and afforded ample opportunity for relationship do-overs. This includes with our selves as well as those we live and work with.
With Saturn moving inward in Scorpio, we can plumb the depths of our psyches, our deepest inner reaches to do real soul work and leave no part of our lives unturned. For those preferring to live unexamined lives, this is hard work indeed. For those with more fortitude and grace, wisdom, it is an opportunity to review what works for us, be it how we earn a living and share resources to who we share our lives with.
Only days later, on March 5th, planet of relationship and money, Venus, switches into inventive, eclectic Aquarius, a radical sign that the comfort-loving, artistic planet is not terribly comfortable in. The effect? Game change. If you are in the flow of life, then new and ingenious methods, out of the box thinking for dealing with relationships will occur. Interesting and alternative people arise out of nowhere to add variety to your days. For others, surprises, shocks and jolts, radical manuevers, unpredictable behavior can happen from those you thought you knew. All the while, the Sun's tight proximity to watery Neptune can make us feel confused, ungrounded, adrift. It is a good time to float rather than fight.
So it is very fortunate when the next day on March 6th, like a mother's tender embrace, Jupiter turns direct motion in maternal Cancer. The great benefic opens her arms to cradle and comfort, tell us every little thing is gonna be all right. As the Sun and Neptune move apart, we beging to see with
greater clarity, believe the direction we should follow. At its greatest potential, the Sun in Pisces along with Neptune offers the unity of all souls. Reminds us of the illusion of separateness, that no soul [human being or animal] is superior to another. For the true essence of Pisces, think: George Harrison, Albert Einstein, George Washington. How utterly different people they were: musician, scientist, warrior/statesman, yet unifiers ALL. A key piece to take away from the Sun-Neptune pairing is intuition. To harness that little voice inside. They remind us to really listen and follow our natural-born wisdom, inherent inner guidance system. In our overly mechanized, hyper intellectualized "show me" world, imagination and intuition are treated like the ugly step children of the psyche, relegated to the back halls of our minds.
Helping us to effectively utilize our intuition to repair and clarify relationships is healer Chiron, which paired with Neptune make a beautiful angle to the North Node and Mars in Libra. Like soap under hot water, the Great Dissolver Neptune will break apart and wash away those parts of ourselves and those people who no longer serve our best interests. Clinging fiercely to old patterns and people will only strengthen the cleansing process: forcing Neptunian waves to become wider, taller, hit harder. Let go. Surrender. If you allow yourself to, you will be amazed how deeply healing this month can be; indeed this planetary combination is healing on all fronts: much needed rain is finally falling for the first time in months in California. With Mars in the mix, the state may be deluged, so let's hope homes and businesses will not be washed away.
As Neptune rules dreams, this same configuration brings avid night (and day) dreams. Most of us are so boxed in by concrete, evidential lives that, like our intuition and imagination, the importance of dreams is often forgotten. We all dream. When you do, in the morning try remembering your dreams and consider keeping a dream journal to reflect back on, to see if there are correlations to your waking life or patterns in your dreams themselves. Allow yourself to daydream. It is OK to put your phone away, take a walk in the woods, insert your ear buds and listen to music, sit quietly at lunch rather than following the usual routine of eating with co-workers. Reverie. What comes of it? Disconnected murmurings? Or, heart-centered soul connections, flags trying to get our attention, perhaps asking...is this how you want to spend your days on earth? Is this who you want to pass your precious time with?
Fantasize about anything that offers pure joy. An article in the on-line Slate magazine recently highlighted the Dalai Lama's encounter with a waitress. As she served him, she asked what no one else on his American tour had dared: What is the meaning of life? "Easy answer," the Dalai Lama said. "Happiness. But harder question to answer is, what makes happiness?" March affords ample opportunity to cogitate about what makes you happy, to clean up our act, get it together before the onslaught of April and springtime. The first week of March wraps up what the first two months of 2014 ignited with days of shock and awe, forcing most of us (and especially those not aligned with their highest good) to dig really deep and ask the hard questions. What does make you happy? As the Dalai Lama posed to the waitress: is it a lot of money, a big house, a generous and giving heart, compassion?
By March 7-8th, the Neptunian haze lifts as the first quarter moon of that weekend calls for action. By the end of the first week, when our head stops spinning from the jumping and jolting, we'll be ready to get going. Where have you been holding back, ruminating, it is time to push forward. After the 8th, the planets begin to settle and in turn calm us down to slowly take steps toward our goals.
Since January, titanic benefic Jupiter has challenged transformer Pluto and radical Uranus causing shifts in our traditions, responsibilities, diet, established systems and patterns, home life, property, family relationships especially to our mothers or our roles as mother. This energy heightens from March 10 through the 18th during the Full Moon (ruler of house, home, mom, food and family) on March 16th. The next day, March 17th, messenger Mercury enters Pisces, joining the Sun (our will), healer Chiron and dreamy Neptune, encouraging us to dream, allow music to heal us, meander and linger a little while longer. The magic and joy of children stems from the uninhibited world they inhabit. Allow yourself to feel that again.
The slippery flip side of this dreamy, fantasy combination is to understand the messy, morphing line between healthy dreams and fantasizing versus escapism and disillusionment. Mercury rules how we think and speak so while in Pisces it is great for enhancing our vision; but be wary of mirages. Or getting caught up in appearances; image, in fact is a mirage. The key to this moment in our lives is the realization that it does not matter what others think about us. Do the right thing. Honor your truth. Live honestly.
Enter Pluto in Capricorn. Nothing like the Transformer of our Desires in down to earth, practical Capricorn to bring focus to our visions and dreams, a hard core reality check. Pluto takes our Piscean dreams and breaks them into small, bite-sized chunks enabling us to put them into effect, a la the beginning of this blog... Pluto bears down asking, are your actions honorable? Are you acting with the utmost integrity and responsibility? With such a heavy dose of the Piscean planetary combo it is so easy to tell ourselves something is true. Live the lie. We so want to believe. A pragmatic antidote for all the purply, glowing fantasy is to make sure you've looked at every side of the situation, relationship, job, etc. Ask, is there something you are choosing to ignore, willfully deny? Pluto's helpful angle to planets in watery Pisces soaks up all of that run off, channels and drains our dreamy puddle paintings with earthy Capricorn solutions. If things get really out of hand, the Dark One (Pluto) isn't afraid of pulling out his big guns, Draconian measures. Think of the Ukranian President. After months of willful resistance to protestors in Kiev, he literally ran away. His lavish home and lifestyle exposed (Pluto's favorite trick) to the struggling Ukranians. Charades, facades and falsehoods will not stand now, virtually break down. It is our individual right to choose surreality or the real deal. Choose wisely, the path that might be harder in the short term will serve you best in the long run.
All this strife is enough to make you want to bury your head in the sand. But when we step back and look at the bigger picture, we know this is the work of our human existance and every day life: to pull ourselves up and do what must be done, the task ahead, like it or not. Lighting a fire under us, the Sun (our will) enters Aries. Harness the Fearless Warrior, Great Initiator, Brazen Pioneer to forge ahead. We can feel our will strengthen and come alive. After the endless winter in the Northern Hemisphere, we need all the optimism and courage we can muster.
Where Pisces is dreamy and reflective, Aries is apt to rush headlong into life, leaping first and asking questions later. Mercury conjoins Neptune in Pisces at the same time, March 20-24, to have us consider how best to apply our dreams. With Mars and the lunar North Node in artistic Libra, the first part of spring is a time of explosive ingenuity and heightened creativity. Musicians, artists, your inner artist: BE FREE! Let loose those dreams and see where they carry you.
This applies to creativity around the home, food/cooking, maternal roles. With Jupiter now direct in motherly Cancer, house and home, food, real estate projects can really take off. Our attention will focus on the sale of homes, interior design (projects or businesses), large or small scale home improvements (especially involving the soul center of the home...the kitchen), our diet and cooking. Paint one wall of a room with a vibrant, eye-catching color, visit galleries and invest in a work of art that you treasure, something priceless and precious to hand down as an heirloom. Whether you decide to become a gourmet chef or simply take an adult education class about desserts, start an addition on your house or just freshen up your bed/bathroom with new linens, energy directed on this front will be well targeted. You may not think of it as healing, but spring cleaning is a time-honored rite for a reason. Clearing away those winter cobwebs, purging the excess everything, clothes, household items, toys, stuff, is a wholistic way to prepare for the warmer months.
Jupiter in Cancer involves Mom and nations too. First mom. How is your mom and/or what is your role as a mother? Either are probably changing and in flux. Next, the Motherland. The Piscean energy of March encourages countries experiencing strife, Venezuela, Syria, Ukraine, Egypt, to work toward unification and peaceful solutions. However, as the Sun moves into Aries (god of war), April promises to be unsettled at best. We already see shades of this with Russian troops moving into the Crimea, southern Ukraine. April has the possibility to be monunmental in one or way or another. So think of March as a training period. With the Olympics still fresh in our minds, make like an athlete preparing for a great race. Prepare yourself for the new and oncoming challenges yet to be, prospects lined up but outcome unknown. On March 30th we are offered a second New Moon, another chance to make wishes, set intentions, and say prayers. Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me....Let's live as honestly as possible so to rise up for what will surely greet us next month.
Raves and Recommendations
If you live in the Boston area, please check out the practice of Susan Jenness! She is an exceptional Reiki healer and yoga instructor located in Watertown. I cannot recommend her highly enough. Please visit her website: www.sanctuaryforyogaandreiki.com to learn more about Susan, her work and class schedules. I recently treated myself to one of her Reiki healing sessions and emerged feeling like a whole new human being.
Saturday, February 1, 2014
Winter Inward Journey, Part 2: Mercury Retrograde.
All through this winter we are asked to turn inward in some key aspects of our lives. To slow down, review, reflect and revisit what otherwise gets passed over in the constant shuffle forward. With the New Moon recently past on January 30 and Venus turned direct motion on the 31st, we enter February just as messenger Mercury is about to turn retrograde. It is as if the planets are saying, "Tag! You're it!" We might as well bend with the road for if nothing else, the record cold, ice and snow (at least in the United States) encourages hibernation and inward journeys.
Planet of relationship and money, Venus' retrograde period prodded us to look hard at these areas of our lives. Now turned direct, she continues her tight pairing with transformer Pluto in earthy Capricorn, both challenging titanic Jupiter, prolonging our assessment of established relationships, family, aspects of ourselves (the ugly, pretty and in between) as well as our relationship to money. Government and big business are included in our review: are they serving us or are we serving them? We may feel very pushed and pulled as we discern what is real vs. what feels fake. That which percolated all through January during Venus retrograde is now brought to the surface to be dealt with once and for all. Capricorn is black and white and unmercifully says, "toss it out" if it doesn't work for you. And if you recall, Pluto is god of the Underworld. Some of these relationships and parts of ourselves truly are meant to die. Why? To move us where we are to go, evolve into our full Self.
Meanwhile, Jupiter in maternal Cancer prods Venus and Pluto to be kind as we make changes. Ask: what is the most caring and compassionate way to manage ourselves, those around us, our situation? Conversely, in between all three of these planets, game changer Uranus taunts us, acts like a match to gasoline, tells us to blaze completely new trails, in partnership, friendship, business, our bank account. If you don't, we'll make sure you will have to, says this planetary configuration.
As much as we are catalyzed to do something, messenger Mercury slows down the first week of February preparing to turn retrograde on the 6th for the entire month. So we are given time to adjust to new attitudes and developments on the above fronts. Bide your time. Do not rush into anything. Re-member the Re words of Mercury retrograde: relaxation, renew, revisit, recycle, etc. As Mercury shifts into reverse it sits closely with Neptune, so the messages we give or receive may be confused, mixed up or obscure. However, if we aren't rushing about, rather, sitting still and paying close attention, Neptune can bring pristine clarity and fresh insights to thoughts and words delivered via Mercury.
Mercury, healer Chiron and Neptune form a beautiful angle to the moon's North Node and nurturing Ceres in Scorpio to pull us toward our intended direction. Ceres is the protector of women and children, overseeing nourishment, harvests of grain and how we feed and nurture ourselves. In Scorpio, she calls us to nourish ourselves at the deepest root level. Ceres also governs loss and death, where you may recall from mythology, she lost her daughter Persephone to Hades and the Underworld for six months of the year.
With Ceres tied to the north node of the moon in Scorpio, the sign of transformation and death, she holds our hand as we move through this significant passage of change. This newly elevated planet guides us as we give ourselves a life makeover. What is dying or deadwood in your life? Change is difficult but only that much harder when we refuse to budge, go kicking and screaming. Ceres says breathe, open, flow into possibilities brought about by letting go.
Mars in Libra joins Ceres and the North Node in their alliance with Chiron and cleansing Neptune, forcing our hand to clean house, literally, as well as with relationships and/or parts of ourselves needing a re-boot. Think of it as a psychic check up, routine maintenance: this configuration helps us clean and maintain ourselves so we function positively and optimally in life and with others. For example, when was the last time you stopped to listen to yourself speak? How do you sound to your partner, your friends, especially your children? A recent article in the Boston Globe stated that yelling at our children has replaced spanking which is widely considered to be corporal punishment, un-politically correct, child abuse.... However, as the article wisely suggests, how you make someone feel with words can be just as damaging, possibly last a lifetime: good, bad, indifferent.
In unsparing Scorpio, Ceres and the North Node demand integrity in all we do. Under its X-Ray glare, you may feel that the entire world can see you in your underwear. So a word of caution: behave as though everyone can see what you are doing, overhearing your conversations, etc. The idea makes anyone squirm uncomfortably; but you get the point. Do the right thing. Show up. Be honorable. Slackers, cheaters, thieves and worse need not apply. This includes you, Mr. Putin. The Russian President will oversee the winter Olympics in Sochi taking place just after Mercury turns retrograde, Feb. 7-23. The whole world really will be watching Putin wield his anti-gay stance, especially under the bright light of the Full Moon on February 14th. The former KGB chief thrives on secrecy but there is little chance of that now. Rather, practicing open honesty yet with great care of your word is best. Be impeccable with your tongue. This is not the month to commit to projects or people you cannot honor in full faith. Think about prospects, commit later on, in March.
Beginning February 9th, the Sun aligns with Mars for the rest of the month. In inventive, radical Aquarius, the Sun fosters changes we seek or must make to our lives. Just as helpful angles to Neptune give us the vision to see what needs adjusting, the Sun and Mars embolden our will, energize us to act. Revitalize what you thought dead or lackluster, be it your career, love life, living space. Where the Venus-Pluto duo have challenged our conditioned, established relationships and habits, especially in the family arena, ample support is ours all month long as healing Chiron makes a great angle to Jupiter in family-minded Cancer. What family matters, business, relatives, property, estates require attention? This is an amazing time to heal past wounds, particularly the familial kind.
You may have to practice patience, dig a little deeper to get the answers, change or healing you seek when messenger Mercury in Aquarius challenges Saturn in Scorpio at mid-month. Do not give in or give up. Simply try different routes, give your quest a momentary rest, or seek alternative answers to whatever you are looking for. Here's why: both Aquarius and Scorpio are fixed signs, meaning they do not like to budge. Both insist never say die. In these intransigent signs, however, the planets can truly be of service to us: Lord of dharma and karma, Saturn in Scorpio unrelentingly demands change from us while messenger Mercury in ingenious Aquarius stubbornly says, "Well, OK then! I can try solving it this way, or that way, or let's even try doing it thus?"
Life isn't going away. So you better get going says this pair.
On February 19th, the Sun enters Pisces, joining Neptune and Chiron in its alliance with Mars, Ceres and the moon's North Node, easing our will and bringing a quiet, calming flow to our efforts. This is greatly enhanced as the Sun forms a helpful angle to abundant Jupiter for the rest of the month, smoothing our path even as Mercury turns direct motion on the 28th, a special gift after long weeks of internal work.
Planet of relationship and money, Venus' retrograde period prodded us to look hard at these areas of our lives. Now turned direct, she continues her tight pairing with transformer Pluto in earthy Capricorn, both challenging titanic Jupiter, prolonging our assessment of established relationships, family, aspects of ourselves (the ugly, pretty and in between) as well as our relationship to money. Government and big business are included in our review: are they serving us or are we serving them? We may feel very pushed and pulled as we discern what is real vs. what feels fake. That which percolated all through January during Venus retrograde is now brought to the surface to be dealt with once and for all. Capricorn is black and white and unmercifully says, "toss it out" if it doesn't work for you. And if you recall, Pluto is god of the Underworld. Some of these relationships and parts of ourselves truly are meant to die. Why? To move us where we are to go, evolve into our full Self.
Meanwhile, Jupiter in maternal Cancer prods Venus and Pluto to be kind as we make changes. Ask: what is the most caring and compassionate way to manage ourselves, those around us, our situation? Conversely, in between all three of these planets, game changer Uranus taunts us, acts like a match to gasoline, tells us to blaze completely new trails, in partnership, friendship, business, our bank account. If you don't, we'll make sure you will have to, says this planetary configuration.
As much as we are catalyzed to do something, messenger Mercury slows down the first week of February preparing to turn retrograde on the 6th for the entire month. So we are given time to adjust to new attitudes and developments on the above fronts. Bide your time. Do not rush into anything. Re-member the Re words of Mercury retrograde: relaxation, renew, revisit, recycle, etc. As Mercury shifts into reverse it sits closely with Neptune, so the messages we give or receive may be confused, mixed up or obscure. However, if we aren't rushing about, rather, sitting still and paying close attention, Neptune can bring pristine clarity and fresh insights to thoughts and words delivered via Mercury.
Mercury, healer Chiron and Neptune form a beautiful angle to the moon's North Node and nurturing Ceres in Scorpio to pull us toward our intended direction. Ceres is the protector of women and children, overseeing nourishment, harvests of grain and how we feed and nurture ourselves. In Scorpio, she calls us to nourish ourselves at the deepest root level. Ceres also governs loss and death, where you may recall from mythology, she lost her daughter Persephone to Hades and the Underworld for six months of the year.
With Ceres tied to the north node of the moon in Scorpio, the sign of transformation and death, she holds our hand as we move through this significant passage of change. This newly elevated planet guides us as we give ourselves a life makeover. What is dying or deadwood in your life? Change is difficult but only that much harder when we refuse to budge, go kicking and screaming. Ceres says breathe, open, flow into possibilities brought about by letting go.
Mars in Libra joins Ceres and the North Node in their alliance with Chiron and cleansing Neptune, forcing our hand to clean house, literally, as well as with relationships and/or parts of ourselves needing a re-boot. Think of it as a psychic check up, routine maintenance: this configuration helps us clean and maintain ourselves so we function positively and optimally in life and with others. For example, when was the last time you stopped to listen to yourself speak? How do you sound to your partner, your friends, especially your children? A recent article in the Boston Globe stated that yelling at our children has replaced spanking which is widely considered to be corporal punishment, un-politically correct, child abuse.... However, as the article wisely suggests, how you make someone feel with words can be just as damaging, possibly last a lifetime: good, bad, indifferent.
In unsparing Scorpio, Ceres and the North Node demand integrity in all we do. Under its X-Ray glare, you may feel that the entire world can see you in your underwear. So a word of caution: behave as though everyone can see what you are doing, overhearing your conversations, etc. The idea makes anyone squirm uncomfortably; but you get the point. Do the right thing. Show up. Be honorable. Slackers, cheaters, thieves and worse need not apply. This includes you, Mr. Putin. The Russian President will oversee the winter Olympics in Sochi taking place just after Mercury turns retrograde, Feb. 7-23. The whole world really will be watching Putin wield his anti-gay stance, especially under the bright light of the Full Moon on February 14th. The former KGB chief thrives on secrecy but there is little chance of that now. Rather, practicing open honesty yet with great care of your word is best. Be impeccable with your tongue. This is not the month to commit to projects or people you cannot honor in full faith. Think about prospects, commit later on, in March.
Beginning February 9th, the Sun aligns with Mars for the rest of the month. In inventive, radical Aquarius, the Sun fosters changes we seek or must make to our lives. Just as helpful angles to Neptune give us the vision to see what needs adjusting, the Sun and Mars embolden our will, energize us to act. Revitalize what you thought dead or lackluster, be it your career, love life, living space. Where the Venus-Pluto duo have challenged our conditioned, established relationships and habits, especially in the family arena, ample support is ours all month long as healing Chiron makes a great angle to Jupiter in family-minded Cancer. What family matters, business, relatives, property, estates require attention? This is an amazing time to heal past wounds, particularly the familial kind.
You may have to practice patience, dig a little deeper to get the answers, change or healing you seek when messenger Mercury in Aquarius challenges Saturn in Scorpio at mid-month. Do not give in or give up. Simply try different routes, give your quest a momentary rest, or seek alternative answers to whatever you are looking for. Here's why: both Aquarius and Scorpio are fixed signs, meaning they do not like to budge. Both insist never say die. In these intransigent signs, however, the planets can truly be of service to us: Lord of dharma and karma, Saturn in Scorpio unrelentingly demands change from us while messenger Mercury in ingenious Aquarius stubbornly says, "Well, OK then! I can try solving it this way, or that way, or let's even try doing it thus?"
Life isn't going away. So you better get going says this pair.
On February 19th, the Sun enters Pisces, joining Neptune and Chiron in its alliance with Mars, Ceres and the moon's North Node, easing our will and bringing a quiet, calming flow to our efforts. This is greatly enhanced as the Sun forms a helpful angle to abundant Jupiter for the rest of the month, smoothing our path even as Mercury turns direct motion on the 28th, a special gift after long weeks of internal work.
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
What You Seek is Seeking You - Rumi
Each New Moon offers a time to pray, make a wish or set intentions for the coming month. It is a rare occurance to have the New Moon fall exactly on January 1st, New Years Day. It is very special indeed. Knowing this, it is good to remember the quotation by the poet Rumi: "What you seek is seeking you."
January 1st to some extent forecasts the feel and the vibe for the entire year to come. We will not be without challenges this year and yet will also have significant opportunities to accomplish what we seek. The Sun (our will) and Pluto (transformer) are tightly cojoined today and closely tied to the Moon (our emotions) and Mercury (the messenger) all in practical, pragmatic Capricorn. In short, common sense, practical transformation is ours if we set manageable and realistic goals.
Think of Capricorn, the sign itself: the solitary goat climbing the mountain, step by step, pushing one foot in front of the other despite fierce elements of wind, cold, rain, snow... There is work to be done so throw your back pack on and buckle up your boots. Off you go, heigh-ho. The mountain (read obstacles) is not going anywhere. So you can either go about climbing the mountain with a positive mind and outlook, with a song in your heart, see the climb as a grand adventure OR see it as pure drudgery...fighting, resisting, and asking why me?
Whatever frame of mind you embrace, your experience will follow. To help set the tone for your month and year ahead, it is key to pause on this rare New Moon New Years Day. Close your eyes for a moment and meditate, reflect, pray, wish, set intentions, make resolutions. The abundant Capricorn energy will ground your resolutions with earthy common sense to assure the best, most realistic outcomes.
The prolific down-to-earth flavor of the New Moon energy is most welcome and very helpful in what otherwise seems to be such a muddled time, especially in terms of relationships. During the New Moon, the above mentioned foursome (Sun, Pluto, Moon and Mercury) challenges fiery Mars in Libra, the relationship sign. Mars is the Warrior, a trail blazer and not comfortable in its opposite sign of accomodating Libra. So the effect of this energy will make most of us feel on edge; at worst, some may feel over the edge while others feel exhilarated and energized at best. The point of this configuration is to catalyze us out of our comfort zones, push us forward, make us do something. Libra is not simply about our relationships to others. It is also about our relationship to our Self. January kicks us in the rear end to get going to be our best self.
Helping us out now is also the planet of relationship: Venus. For the entire month Venus is still turning in retrograde motion, encouraging self reflection and how best to reinvent ourselves. Think back to junior high or high school days, to the girl or boy who was so awkward when we left for summer vacation but who returned to class in September apparently a whole new person. To look at the student, it felt like an alternate universe, the Twilight Zone...we'd wonder what happened to said classmate? Who was this suddenly handsome, hip, beautiful person standing in the place of the former person...similar features and hair color yet not at all the same, no trace of the old gangly fumbler, leaving us to ask how s/he could pull off this magical transformation, what wizard or fairy godmother cast a spell to utterly remake our classmate; and more importantly, deeply, could we do the same thing? Become a whole new me?
Perhaps you were that student.
Well, for each of us, now is such a transformative time. Besides Venus, the other beneficent planet, Jupiter, is also turning retrograde motion. It may add to the feeling that nothing is going our way. Pause and look again. Turn inward and count your blessings. What is working for you? With both Venus and Jupiter in reflective mode, we are encouraged to dig ever deeper to get into the bones of our souls (Capricorn rules bones) to shed old layers of self. Like that high school classmate, shed your skin, that layer you've outgrown, which no longer represents you, that layer you no longer need so a new Self can emerge more representative of your true being. It is accurate that every moment of every day we have the chance to turn a page and begin anew. Still, some days are more fortuitous for reinvention than others. Early January is prime make-over season. Choose wisely.
Resisting and fighting personality plunging only makes life more difficult. Astrologically, we have what is called a grand square. Simply put, a big fat challenge, a cosmic throw-down if you will to get going. Push you like never before. Think Cosmic Labor Pain because that is what it will feel like as seven planets square off the first two weeks of the month (the Moon, Mercury, the Sun, Pluto, Mars, Jupiter and Uranus in cardinal, activating signs), catalyzing and catapulting us to grow and change. Develop. You have nothing to lose by taking a risk; and with radical Uranus in the mix, you may very well be surprised into seizing unexpected opportunity. It is only those with truly nothing at stake who are unafraid, or forced, to take chances, huge risks. We have all hear such stories. Put yourself in that mindset: Ask yourself, what do you really have to lose this year by not pushing your boundaries and leaping into the unknown? Living as if it were your last day? Again, with the balance of planets in sturdy Capricorn, you are being handed the road map to chart practical steps, minimize risk, strategize and create a plan for your month, your year, your life. What do you want your life to look like?
One thing is for sure, the spoils go to those who are decisive, can make up their minds to forge ahead. 2014 continues the theme we've lived with for a while: one of not suffering fools lightly. Facades and fakes aren't tolerated. Truth telling is heightened more than ever before as we stand exactly half way in the challenging dance between Uranus and Pluto, breaking down and throwing out the old and what no longer works while clearing the path to usher in the new. Sentimentality is of no use now, clinging to what used to be, be it relationships, projects, businesses, or patterns of life dangling reminiscences of past glory days. Evolutionarily speaking, it is a pivotal time. Capricorn is black and white, stark and unsparing in its glare that does not have time for what, or who, has been. Think: clean, fresh slate. Whole New World. Remember Darwin? Adapt or be left behind. Worse, become obsolete. Hard as that sounds for the dinosaurs among us.
Alleviating some of the harsh elements of our climb up the mountain is a helpful angle between Mercury, Venus and Saturn. Even as Saturn in transformative Scorpio pushes us to dig deeper, messenger Mercury and relationship Venus deliver clarity of vision and unmistakable practicality, ideas of how best to efficiently accomplish tasks. Harness this energy around the second week of January to plant ideas. Between January 10th and 13th, Venus passes by Mercury and the Sun when all three planets form a beautiful angle to the moon: manifest your hopes, plans and desires. At the same time, task master Saturn aligns to the Sun and Venus supporting meaningful tasks to get things done.
With so much Capricorn energy and Saturn (the ruler of Capricorn) in transformative Scorpio, we could witness significant headway for government and growth in big business. If nothing else, Capricorn is about Responsibility with a capital R. In the wake of seemingly endless shutdowns and bailouts, the American people are fed up and expect our government and corporations to be accountable and Responsible. This expectation begets positive change...especially during election time later this year! Expect resolutions to money matters and shared/collective resource concerns. And since Venus, ruler of money, is retrograde now, money owed to us as well as money surprises may occur now.
All the no-nonsense, serious-minded Capricorn energy can make us forget a critical element: to follow your gut, instincts and intuition. Enter Neptune. Planet of intuition and dreams helpfully aligns to the moon's north node, what calls our name and draws us toward our intended direction. It is truly an opportune time to listen, develop your intuition. Close your eyes and ask, what does my gut tell me? How do I feel about this situation/person? Are there messages you have ignored, passed over, discounted? Such as people who appear in your life at a pivotal moment saying the exact words you need to hear, calling you to pay attention? Conversely, does something, someone feel off to you? You may not be able to quite put your finger on exactly what doesn't jibe; still, follow your feeling. You may discover later on it was a really good thing you didn't follow a certain direction.
The full moon on January 15th in Cancer conjoins Jupiter to draw focus on matters of security, family and nurturing. Take care of yourself and loved ones. If you have any spare money, sock it away for retirement or a rainy day. Family relationships may feel strained, in a tug-of-war, as Jupiter-Moon opposes the Sun (our will) and Venus (relationships). Sensitivity is heightened now. Tread softly. With Jupiter challenging Mars for most of January, nagging family relationships, inheritances, real estate and psychological roots demand attention.
Helping us out under the light of the full moon is messenger Mercury's angle to game-changer Uranus. Lightning fast ideas and insights will surface to remedy and fix problems situations. Think breakthroughs. It could be just the cure to break apart old, repeating habits and patterns preventing our growth. By January 20th, both Mercury and the Sun shift into inventive Aquarius. Bring out your inner genius to play, wild child, radical side, your inventor and innovator. Don't stand for the old and has been. Beckon the new. Meanwhile Venus conjoins Pluto until the end of the month, so expect relationships to intensify. Pieces of relationships that are broken, either personally or expecially business relationships, will come into sharp focus now. Jagged edges of broken parts will stab you if you do not fix them.
The last week of the month the Sun makes a helpful angle to Uranus while Mercury aligns with Mars heightening creativity and energizing us to implement thoughts and ideas. The last day of January Venus finally turns direct motion, giving us permission to invest in our plans and relationships; even as Mercury enters Pisces delivering deep, pristine insights and instilling faith in our future.
January 1st to some extent forecasts the feel and the vibe for the entire year to come. We will not be without challenges this year and yet will also have significant opportunities to accomplish what we seek. The Sun (our will) and Pluto (transformer) are tightly cojoined today and closely tied to the Moon (our emotions) and Mercury (the messenger) all in practical, pragmatic Capricorn. In short, common sense, practical transformation is ours if we set manageable and realistic goals.
Think of Capricorn, the sign itself: the solitary goat climbing the mountain, step by step, pushing one foot in front of the other despite fierce elements of wind, cold, rain, snow... There is work to be done so throw your back pack on and buckle up your boots. Off you go, heigh-ho. The mountain (read obstacles) is not going anywhere. So you can either go about climbing the mountain with a positive mind and outlook, with a song in your heart, see the climb as a grand adventure OR see it as pure drudgery...fighting, resisting, and asking why me?
Whatever frame of mind you embrace, your experience will follow. To help set the tone for your month and year ahead, it is key to pause on this rare New Moon New Years Day. Close your eyes for a moment and meditate, reflect, pray, wish, set intentions, make resolutions. The abundant Capricorn energy will ground your resolutions with earthy common sense to assure the best, most realistic outcomes.
The prolific down-to-earth flavor of the New Moon energy is most welcome and very helpful in what otherwise seems to be such a muddled time, especially in terms of relationships. During the New Moon, the above mentioned foursome (Sun, Pluto, Moon and Mercury) challenges fiery Mars in Libra, the relationship sign. Mars is the Warrior, a trail blazer and not comfortable in its opposite sign of accomodating Libra. So the effect of this energy will make most of us feel on edge; at worst, some may feel over the edge while others feel exhilarated and energized at best. The point of this configuration is to catalyze us out of our comfort zones, push us forward, make us do something. Libra is not simply about our relationships to others. It is also about our relationship to our Self. January kicks us in the rear end to get going to be our best self.
Helping us out now is also the planet of relationship: Venus. For the entire month Venus is still turning in retrograde motion, encouraging self reflection and how best to reinvent ourselves. Think back to junior high or high school days, to the girl or boy who was so awkward when we left for summer vacation but who returned to class in September apparently a whole new person. To look at the student, it felt like an alternate universe, the Twilight Zone...we'd wonder what happened to said classmate? Who was this suddenly handsome, hip, beautiful person standing in the place of the former person...similar features and hair color yet not at all the same, no trace of the old gangly fumbler, leaving us to ask how s/he could pull off this magical transformation, what wizard or fairy godmother cast a spell to utterly remake our classmate; and more importantly, deeply, could we do the same thing? Become a whole new me?
Perhaps you were that student.
Well, for each of us, now is such a transformative time. Besides Venus, the other beneficent planet, Jupiter, is also turning retrograde motion. It may add to the feeling that nothing is going our way. Pause and look again. Turn inward and count your blessings. What is working for you? With both Venus and Jupiter in reflective mode, we are encouraged to dig ever deeper to get into the bones of our souls (Capricorn rules bones) to shed old layers of self. Like that high school classmate, shed your skin, that layer you've outgrown, which no longer represents you, that layer you no longer need so a new Self can emerge more representative of your true being. It is accurate that every moment of every day we have the chance to turn a page and begin anew. Still, some days are more fortuitous for reinvention than others. Early January is prime make-over season. Choose wisely.
Resisting and fighting personality plunging only makes life more difficult. Astrologically, we have what is called a grand square. Simply put, a big fat challenge, a cosmic throw-down if you will to get going. Push you like never before. Think Cosmic Labor Pain because that is what it will feel like as seven planets square off the first two weeks of the month (the Moon, Mercury, the Sun, Pluto, Mars, Jupiter and Uranus in cardinal, activating signs), catalyzing and catapulting us to grow and change. Develop. You have nothing to lose by taking a risk; and with radical Uranus in the mix, you may very well be surprised into seizing unexpected opportunity. It is only those with truly nothing at stake who are unafraid, or forced, to take chances, huge risks. We have all hear such stories. Put yourself in that mindset: Ask yourself, what do you really have to lose this year by not pushing your boundaries and leaping into the unknown? Living as if it were your last day? Again, with the balance of planets in sturdy Capricorn, you are being handed the road map to chart practical steps, minimize risk, strategize and create a plan for your month, your year, your life. What do you want your life to look like?
One thing is for sure, the spoils go to those who are decisive, can make up their minds to forge ahead. 2014 continues the theme we've lived with for a while: one of not suffering fools lightly. Facades and fakes aren't tolerated. Truth telling is heightened more than ever before as we stand exactly half way in the challenging dance between Uranus and Pluto, breaking down and throwing out the old and what no longer works while clearing the path to usher in the new. Sentimentality is of no use now, clinging to what used to be, be it relationships, projects, businesses, or patterns of life dangling reminiscences of past glory days. Evolutionarily speaking, it is a pivotal time. Capricorn is black and white, stark and unsparing in its glare that does not have time for what, or who, has been. Think: clean, fresh slate. Whole New World. Remember Darwin? Adapt or be left behind. Worse, become obsolete. Hard as that sounds for the dinosaurs among us.
Alleviating some of the harsh elements of our climb up the mountain is a helpful angle between Mercury, Venus and Saturn. Even as Saturn in transformative Scorpio pushes us to dig deeper, messenger Mercury and relationship Venus deliver clarity of vision and unmistakable practicality, ideas of how best to efficiently accomplish tasks. Harness this energy around the second week of January to plant ideas. Between January 10th and 13th, Venus passes by Mercury and the Sun when all three planets form a beautiful angle to the moon: manifest your hopes, plans and desires. At the same time, task master Saturn aligns to the Sun and Venus supporting meaningful tasks to get things done.
With so much Capricorn energy and Saturn (the ruler of Capricorn) in transformative Scorpio, we could witness significant headway for government and growth in big business. If nothing else, Capricorn is about Responsibility with a capital R. In the wake of seemingly endless shutdowns and bailouts, the American people are fed up and expect our government and corporations to be accountable and Responsible. This expectation begets positive change...especially during election time later this year! Expect resolutions to money matters and shared/collective resource concerns. And since Venus, ruler of money, is retrograde now, money owed to us as well as money surprises may occur now.
All the no-nonsense, serious-minded Capricorn energy can make us forget a critical element: to follow your gut, instincts and intuition. Enter Neptune. Planet of intuition and dreams helpfully aligns to the moon's north node, what calls our name and draws us toward our intended direction. It is truly an opportune time to listen, develop your intuition. Close your eyes and ask, what does my gut tell me? How do I feel about this situation/person? Are there messages you have ignored, passed over, discounted? Such as people who appear in your life at a pivotal moment saying the exact words you need to hear, calling you to pay attention? Conversely, does something, someone feel off to you? You may not be able to quite put your finger on exactly what doesn't jibe; still, follow your feeling. You may discover later on it was a really good thing you didn't follow a certain direction.
The full moon on January 15th in Cancer conjoins Jupiter to draw focus on matters of security, family and nurturing. Take care of yourself and loved ones. If you have any spare money, sock it away for retirement or a rainy day. Family relationships may feel strained, in a tug-of-war, as Jupiter-Moon opposes the Sun (our will) and Venus (relationships). Sensitivity is heightened now. Tread softly. With Jupiter challenging Mars for most of January, nagging family relationships, inheritances, real estate and psychological roots demand attention.
Helping us out under the light of the full moon is messenger Mercury's angle to game-changer Uranus. Lightning fast ideas and insights will surface to remedy and fix problems situations. Think breakthroughs. It could be just the cure to break apart old, repeating habits and patterns preventing our growth. By January 20th, both Mercury and the Sun shift into inventive Aquarius. Bring out your inner genius to play, wild child, radical side, your inventor and innovator. Don't stand for the old and has been. Beckon the new. Meanwhile Venus conjoins Pluto until the end of the month, so expect relationships to intensify. Pieces of relationships that are broken, either personally or expecially business relationships, will come into sharp focus now. Jagged edges of broken parts will stab you if you do not fix them.
The last week of the month the Sun makes a helpful angle to Uranus while Mercury aligns with Mars heightening creativity and energizing us to implement thoughts and ideas. The last day of January Venus finally turns direct motion, giving us permission to invest in our plans and relationships; even as Mercury enters Pisces delivering deep, pristine insights and instilling faith in our future.
Sunday, December 1, 2013
After the darkness follows the Light: Existential questions
Undoutedly bumpy, this autumn has brought some of us to the edge of the void, while others have stared deeply into it, while still others have been smack dab in the void. Way, way down inside. Any one with even the smallest shred of awareness cannot miss just how raw a time this is. A world away from where I write a cataclysmic cyclone decimated part of the Philipines. By some measurements, the storm was the worst in recorded history. Only days later, horrific tornadoes wiped away Midwestern towns in the United States. Images surfacing from both of these events are difficult to look at, just like parts of our own lives and communities we'd prefer to avoid. However, such destructive storms occur for a reason: to get our attention and to remind us that each of us touches the life of every one and every thing on this planet. Most notably, such events also offer us an opportunity to rebuild our lives into more accurate depictions of who we really are.
With a finely tuned syncopation that only the planets can render, out of the darkness of November and the sting of its Scorpion shadow, December opens with a dark moon. This is a good thing. For the first two days of the month we are given a window to make wishes and say prayers for the upcoming month. Take full advantage. Two days later the New Moon occurs shining a sliver of Light down upon us. Yes, you guessed it: a cosmic metaphor that from the deepest dark of our lives we inevitably emerge into eternal Light. It is always there for us. We simply need to remember.
Much like forgetting that the Light is perpetually available to us, we occasionally need to remember who we are, and why we are. Especially after the gut-wrenching days of last month, perhaps your life has been forever altered. There is no turning back. With the Sun now in philosophical Sagittarius, December prompts us to take a cue from the great French existentialist Jean Paul Sartre and ask the hard questions. This month we are afforded ample opportunity to learn. Ever the seeker, archer Sagittarius points his arrow at The Truth. Nothing less will satisfy. The archer wants to know why? Journeyman, searcher, spiritualist, teacher and preacher, Sagittarius asks: what is the meaning of life? The archer bolsters our strength to be adventurous: in faith go forth in search of answers. Then, share the knowledge you learned on The Path.
Messenger Mercury enters Sagittarius on December 5th, underscoring our questions and increasing our thirst for knowledge. Be careful of mixed signals during the first ten days of the month. While Mercury challenges foggy Neptune making it difficult to see The Path let alone our destination, Mercury helpfully aligns with ingenious Uranus. In short: you will have significant help finding your way and not getting lost in murky disillusionment. You are offered new ways of thinking about old situations. So hang on. By December 10th bolts of lightning in the form of creative insights arrive to deliver solutions. Perhaps, prevent us from repeating the same old-same old patterns and get us out of our routine ruts.
Meanwhile fiery Mars enters Libra at a critical degree bringing relationship concerns to a head. The beautiful angle between relationship planets Venus and Mars shift into a more difficult axis now stressing its importance. Don't look now, you may just refuse to put up with nonsense any more. That no-nonsense energy builds all through December as Mars challenges Pluto and Uranus to heat life up to intense levels. That nagging matter has reared its ugly head again. It just won't go away. Only this time, it has sprouted horns poking you to pay attention. Address, confront and deal with the situation. Will you? The catalytic energy between these feisty planets begs for (if not encourages) grace, dignity and tolerance to be applied to possibly explosive circumstances. Established relationships or habits now shift. Watch for crimes of passion, dramatic or sudden events jolting our consciousness...to remember. The Sagittarius Sun and Mercury are key to remembering this month by prompting the hard questions: who are you now and who do you really want to be. If you have shrunk from seeing your Truth, the Mars-Pluto-Uranus troika will make sure can't miss it now.
One thing that has become lost in the crush of living is the massacre at Newtown, Connecticut. Only a year ago, in some way the event seems like another lifetime. Although not for the families of the victims, I'm sure. Around the same time last December 2012, game-changer Uranus turned direct motion as it does this month the December 17th. Do you remember hearing the news that day? Horror let loose. Little children, devoted teachers, innocent all, shot in cold blood. Again, beneath a Sagittarian Sun, such an event incited us to remember what is truly important in life. Things we often take for granted or rush through as we hurry toward the "important" stuff. When really, the lives of our children, their hopes and dreams bundled up with ours for them, are truly all that matters. Anniversarys occur for a reason: to stop and take a moment to reflect. Ask yourself what has changed since Newtown? Anything? Nothing? Well, surely a great deal for some and very, very little for most. Gun laws in the State of Connecticut are tighter. But in no other state.
Like the families who live with that horror every day, we pause now and ask, what is it all about? What is it all for? How have I changed since that day?
Helping to soften Uranus' jolt forward, the moon joins Jupiter in its own nurturing sign of Cancer, beautifully aligning with heavyweight Saturn in Scorpio all this month. Feelings are tender. Acknowledge them, do not ignore them. Offer care and compassion to others. Your children, adults behaving like children. Your inner child. Maybe you don't remember, but when you were little you probably asked your parents and siblings all the time: why and how come? You were learning. And you still are.
The third week of December messenger Mercury tightly conjoins the Sun to highlight our questions before both enter practical Capricorn. Now we put to work what we've learned over the past month and season. We use our knowledge gained. A word of caution: on December 21st as the Sun enters Capricorn, Venus turns retrograde motion. Ruling love and money, this is not the time to make significant investments or purchases. Nor is it optimal for intiating relationships or bringing current relationships to new stages of development (ie, engagement or marriage). With a helpful angle between Neptune-Chiron and all that Capricorn energy, it is better to envision ideas for your future. Step by step. Fantasize about what kind of car, house or bank account you desire or the kind of partner you want to attract. Then ground it all with a little mental elbow grease: do some research then make a list of the qualities of what you want. It may not sound sexy, but creating a business plan for your house, career, mate, life will get the job done.
Christmas Eve, Mercury enters the sign of Capricorn, joining the Sun and Pluto. Great for observing tried and true traditions, this troika fosters self-reliance and responsibility even as the are challenged by radical Uranus and fiery Mars. Established order(s) are given a run. Some will feel truly threatened that time-honored holiday habits shift and change beyond their control. It may feel the world is disintegrating beneath our feet. Others, the young and young at heart will feel exhilarated during this time. That everything and everyone feels shiny, brand new and full to the brim with new life, new ways to grow. Take a chance. Be flexible. Open-minded is the watchword through the New Year. Be open to the new. With Mars in artistic and relationship oriented Libra, go to a holiday party instead of hosting one or vice versa; attend concerts, art shows, museums, plays. Surprise yourself.
The angels will watch over you and make sure you are safe. On New Year's Eve, Mercury, Pluto and Mars are each at the eleventh degree of their signs: 11, 11, 11. So how can you go wrong? Numerically the angels protect and guide us to make a wish on this magical night and believe it can be so.
With a finely tuned syncopation that only the planets can render, out of the darkness of November and the sting of its Scorpion shadow, December opens with a dark moon. This is a good thing. For the first two days of the month we are given a window to make wishes and say prayers for the upcoming month. Take full advantage. Two days later the New Moon occurs shining a sliver of Light down upon us. Yes, you guessed it: a cosmic metaphor that from the deepest dark of our lives we inevitably emerge into eternal Light. It is always there for us. We simply need to remember.
Much like forgetting that the Light is perpetually available to us, we occasionally need to remember who we are, and why we are. Especially after the gut-wrenching days of last month, perhaps your life has been forever altered. There is no turning back. With the Sun now in philosophical Sagittarius, December prompts us to take a cue from the great French existentialist Jean Paul Sartre and ask the hard questions. This month we are afforded ample opportunity to learn. Ever the seeker, archer Sagittarius points his arrow at The Truth. Nothing less will satisfy. The archer wants to know why? Journeyman, searcher, spiritualist, teacher and preacher, Sagittarius asks: what is the meaning of life? The archer bolsters our strength to be adventurous: in faith go forth in search of answers. Then, share the knowledge you learned on The Path.
Messenger Mercury enters Sagittarius on December 5th, underscoring our questions and increasing our thirst for knowledge. Be careful of mixed signals during the first ten days of the month. While Mercury challenges foggy Neptune making it difficult to see The Path let alone our destination, Mercury helpfully aligns with ingenious Uranus. In short: you will have significant help finding your way and not getting lost in murky disillusionment. You are offered new ways of thinking about old situations. So hang on. By December 10th bolts of lightning in the form of creative insights arrive to deliver solutions. Perhaps, prevent us from repeating the same old-same old patterns and get us out of our routine ruts.
Meanwhile fiery Mars enters Libra at a critical degree bringing relationship concerns to a head. The beautiful angle between relationship planets Venus and Mars shift into a more difficult axis now stressing its importance. Don't look now, you may just refuse to put up with nonsense any more. That no-nonsense energy builds all through December as Mars challenges Pluto and Uranus to heat life up to intense levels. That nagging matter has reared its ugly head again. It just won't go away. Only this time, it has sprouted horns poking you to pay attention. Address, confront and deal with the situation. Will you? The catalytic energy between these feisty planets begs for (if not encourages) grace, dignity and tolerance to be applied to possibly explosive circumstances. Established relationships or habits now shift. Watch for crimes of passion, dramatic or sudden events jolting our consciousness...to remember. The Sagittarius Sun and Mercury are key to remembering this month by prompting the hard questions: who are you now and who do you really want to be. If you have shrunk from seeing your Truth, the Mars-Pluto-Uranus troika will make sure can't miss it now.
One thing that has become lost in the crush of living is the massacre at Newtown, Connecticut. Only a year ago, in some way the event seems like another lifetime. Although not for the families of the victims, I'm sure. Around the same time last December 2012, game-changer Uranus turned direct motion as it does this month the December 17th. Do you remember hearing the news that day? Horror let loose. Little children, devoted teachers, innocent all, shot in cold blood. Again, beneath a Sagittarian Sun, such an event incited us to remember what is truly important in life. Things we often take for granted or rush through as we hurry toward the "important" stuff. When really, the lives of our children, their hopes and dreams bundled up with ours for them, are truly all that matters. Anniversarys occur for a reason: to stop and take a moment to reflect. Ask yourself what has changed since Newtown? Anything? Nothing? Well, surely a great deal for some and very, very little for most. Gun laws in the State of Connecticut are tighter. But in no other state.
Like the families who live with that horror every day, we pause now and ask, what is it all about? What is it all for? How have I changed since that day?
Helping to soften Uranus' jolt forward, the moon joins Jupiter in its own nurturing sign of Cancer, beautifully aligning with heavyweight Saturn in Scorpio all this month. Feelings are tender. Acknowledge them, do not ignore them. Offer care and compassion to others. Your children, adults behaving like children. Your inner child. Maybe you don't remember, but when you were little you probably asked your parents and siblings all the time: why and how come? You were learning. And you still are.
The third week of December messenger Mercury tightly conjoins the Sun to highlight our questions before both enter practical Capricorn. Now we put to work what we've learned over the past month and season. We use our knowledge gained. A word of caution: on December 21st as the Sun enters Capricorn, Venus turns retrograde motion. Ruling love and money, this is not the time to make significant investments or purchases. Nor is it optimal for intiating relationships or bringing current relationships to new stages of development (ie, engagement or marriage). With a helpful angle between Neptune-Chiron and all that Capricorn energy, it is better to envision ideas for your future. Step by step. Fantasize about what kind of car, house or bank account you desire or the kind of partner you want to attract. Then ground it all with a little mental elbow grease: do some research then make a list of the qualities of what you want. It may not sound sexy, but creating a business plan for your house, career, mate, life will get the job done.
Christmas Eve, Mercury enters the sign of Capricorn, joining the Sun and Pluto. Great for observing tried and true traditions, this troika fosters self-reliance and responsibility even as the are challenged by radical Uranus and fiery Mars. Established order(s) are given a run. Some will feel truly threatened that time-honored holiday habits shift and change beyond their control. It may feel the world is disintegrating beneath our feet. Others, the young and young at heart will feel exhilarated during this time. That everything and everyone feels shiny, brand new and full to the brim with new life, new ways to grow. Take a chance. Be flexible. Open-minded is the watchword through the New Year. Be open to the new. With Mars in artistic and relationship oriented Libra, go to a holiday party instead of hosting one or vice versa; attend concerts, art shows, museums, plays. Surprise yourself.
The angels will watch over you and make sure you are safe. On New Year's Eve, Mercury, Pluto and Mars are each at the eleventh degree of their signs: 11, 11, 11. So how can you go wrong? Numerically the angels protect and guide us to make a wish on this magical night and believe it can be so.
Friday, November 1, 2013
Sex, Death, Power and the Shadow: Scorpio Struts its Stuff.
I don't know about you but October ran a bulldozer over me. Wow. The weeks left me feeling grateful to be in tact and relatively unscathed. Grateful for what is working in my life and where I do not have to struggle. It was enough to cope with life events hurling at me full speed.
Loaded events carry over into November. Like a match to a firecracker, this month starts with Pluto exactly challenging Uranus. These two have tangoed for a long while and will for a time yet to come. Out with the old and in with the new this pattern hammers at us, pummeling our lives until we do as we're told. And shown. Get rid of habits, relationships, jobs, you-name-it, that do not work or serve you.
Only two days later a solar eclipse occurs in powerful Scorpio on Sunday, November 3rd. The strength of this eclipse is difficult to overstate. Scorpio is about power, karma, transformation and the ultimate transformative processes for human beings: sex, death, sharing joint resources (ie, bank accounts, land, cash, property of any kind). Money. All eclipses mark significant passages in our lives. What makes this particular eclipse so strong is its close tie to Saturn, the north node of the moon and messenger Mercury, all in Scorpio. There is no mistaking the message we are to hear now. Like a door swinging on a hinge, closing behind us for good, this is a pivotal point in time. Get busy, get down to brass tacks, get going making changes in your life so you can healthfully, meaningfully live the rest of your life.
Let's begin with Saturn's role in the eclipse. The most serious planet in the zodiac, Saturn demands responsibility and integrity in all we do. The rings around Saturn symbolically tell us: until we can contain and control our own lives, effectively, responsibly and honorably, Saturn (or life forces) will bind us by curtailing and inhibiting our freedom and choices. In the powerful sign of Scorpio, Saturn demands us to change but also gives us a clean slate and fresh start. We can settle debts now. Saturn is often viewed as the party-pooper, dour albeit wise. However, Saturn wants us to be our best selves. Demands nothing less than greatness to serve the purpose we are here to live. That said, for those ignoring life lessons or their true path, Saturn will strip you bare and insist we behave, deliver what is coming to us. Better to live honestly, don't you think, than continue trying to get away with something? Think of the thief who has perpetually gotten away with the goods, time after time, never been caught. Bernard Madoff comes to mind. Time's up, says Saturn. Time to pay the penalty. Time, after all, is ruled by Saturn. It tells us: it is only a matter of time before life catches up with you. One of the primary Universal Laws is that of Cause and Effect. "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction," might well have been dictated by Saturn.
Drawing us further into this reality is Mercury tightly conjoined with the moon's north node. Like True North, the north node calls us forward, pulling us toward our destiny. Meanwhile, retrograde Mercury turns us inward like a scope diving into the deepest reaches of our psyche to examine just exactly who we are and to tell us like it is. In Scorpio, we will feel every inch of this message. What we hear, live and learn may be stark, harsh, profound, revealing, and powerful...For if nothing else, Scorpio is about power.
If you have shied away from stepping into your own power, this eclipse insists you embrace just how powerful you truly are. One. Step. At. A. Time. On another note, power struggles of all kinds are highlighted now and brought to a head. Often those afraid or reluctant to accept and be powerful become victimized by those who do not wield power compassionately. Is someone or some situation holding power over you? Economically/financially, emotionally or psychologically? Are you the victim or perpetrator of abuse? Abuse can often be surreptitious as Scorpio rules what is hidden: power that is manipulated from behind the scenes, for good or ill.
Remember, power does not mean aggression, anger, vicious behavior or words, although it is often expressed this way. Power simply means asserting strength through choice and action. At its best, power is wielded with kindness and compassion, such as anonymous generosity via donation or action that helps another. Withholding harmful gossip. Shielding or protecting another from pain. This is the purest form of power. Think of the policewoman in Florida who recently caught a mother stealing food from a grocery store. Drive to desperation, the mother resorted to theft to feed her children. The policewoman understood that arresting the mother would only compound the family's circumstance by making it more dire than it already was. Instead of taking her into custody, the policewoman gave $100 of her own money to the mother so she could buy food. "Watching the kids unload the groceries," she said, "you would have thought it was Christmas."
That is power.
In the shamelessly exhibitionist, reality-TV, celebrity-obsessesed world we live in, it is essential to remember how much we, all of life, are sustained by the sheer goodness of the vast majority. Most of this compassionate power is purely unseen. Just because it is invisible does not invalidate its existence. The reverse is actually true: it is the glue upholding the world and stitching the fabric of life together.
And, now, a word about sex. Scorpio rules sex and there is an immense emphasis on it during this time. How is your sex life? Good, great, non-existent, indifferent? Are you having an affair or thinking about having one? Has bisexuality, the gay or transgender life crossed your mind; or perhaps, emerged as a life you want to lead? Scorpio demands you to live your truth to ensure your deepest needs are met. You are a sexual being. Attend to this side of yourself. Since Scorpio rules our shadow, the dark side of life, a word of caution: Ask yourself, where does passion turn into obsession, or become an ugly addiction? Sex is fabulous so long as it doesn't become all you do or want to do, just like the consumption of alcohol, gambling or any behavior that can turn dark.
Even routines that have become so rote giving our lives little substance or dwindle purpose to nothingness fall within Scorpio's domain. You may not like to think of your routine and habitual comforts as obsessive compulsions bordering on addictions. Take a second, deeper look, however. Are they confining you into a life of safety but not fullness, beauty, risk...? Every day a little death, wrote Stephen Sondheim. Live a little instead, stings Scorpio. You may have no other choice around November 3 with the eclipse, Saturn, Mercury and the moon's north node pushing us to transform, change it up. This month may very well shatter its share of lives. But it is through the cracks of our smashed pieces that the Light is able to pour in. When we resist, we block the Light; Light shining hope on us to grow, evolve, be our best selves. Tip: surrender, do not resist.
This will be especially true for relationships, to your Self, your Shadow and to others. Catalyzed by newly elevated planet Ceres at a critical degree of Libra, relationships are put on notice. Love yourself: the good, the bad and the ugly. Change what you can and embrace what you cannot...ie, your Shadow. For therein lies your greatest strength...the thing you least like about yourself. What you dislike in others is a mirror for what you dislike in yourself. With Ceres at a decisive degree, there is no more fence-sitting: get in or get out, get on or be done with it. If you decide to stay in certain relationships, figure out how to make them work for both of you. Ceres demands balance now between you and the outer world, you and the other person.
The other person may very well be a family member or loved one, especially around November 7. Jupiter in nurturing Cancer turns retrograde just as Saturn reaches a critical degree of Scorpio. Family matters will take the forefront. Anything hidden or buried from the past, old wounds, unresolved arguments, stories intentionally withheld, will be dealt with now. The good news is that a flowing angle between Jupiter, Saturn and the Sun make it easier to pull old closeted situations out to look at, talk about, and heal.
This can include financial concerns, joint/shared property, particularly the familial kind. Be aware of financial manipulation. Secure your home and property as well. Theft figures into this picture. Conversely, pots of gold might just surface now. That Aunt you heard about but never met might leave you a chunk of change. Were you her only living relative? Family karmic debts will be settled now; prepare to receive or pay up. By extension, estates may either end up in court with relatives fighting bitterly over them (read: resistance to change behavior), or reach resolution. May the latter be your circumstance! In any event, attempts to hide ugly parts, the pieces and people we disown, just will not work now and going forward. Everything has a glaring light shining on it.
This is really true after messenger Mercury turns direct motion on November 11, and further clarified by Neptune as it turns direct on November 14. What has been put on hold, delayed, or misconstrued is now clear and ready for action. Get busy cleaning up and clearing out the old and making way to accomplish the new and fulfilling in your life, be it projects, business ventures, relationships. Now is a terrific time to dive in head first and launch new endeavors. The energy at mid month is heightened when transformer Pluto joins Venus on November 15 in Capricorn. Great for building anything, practical and pragmatic Capricorn will show you how to climb that mountain in front of you, step by step. Black and white, stark by nature, Capricorn informs this planetary duo about who and what works or does not work, the people and parts of our lives that function well and other aspects that need to be rehabbed or scrapped altogether. That is Capricorn.
Saturn rules Capricorn and both rule Time. Venus in Capricorn asks how much time and energy do you really want to sink into relationships, especially those that are dysfunctional? One particular aspect to note during mid-November pertaining to Pluto (power) and Venus (love and money): power struggles involving our relationships and money (and our relationship to money) will either reach new plateaus, new lows or be settled once and for all. Ask yourself, who has the power in your relationships and who does not? Does money have power over you?
Furthering our insights about this pair is their alliance with the moon in earthy Taurus, as well as beneficial angles to healer Chiron, messenger Mercury and the north node of the moon. Deep healing is possible now enabling us to chart new courses for ourselves and our relationships as we purge and cleanse old patterns and utilize our best parts. All efforts point to maximizing function and constructive operation. Again, this is Capricorn.
November 13-20th is a significant week with Saturn at an attention-getting degree of Scorpio. High profile news, changes, deaths and events will occur. Continuing from late October, mysteries still unfold and revelations clarifying what was heretofore misunderstood or unknown. Venus/Pluto's beneficial angle to Jupiter will lessen the severity of those experiencing loss or difficulty during this passage.
The Sun enters Sagittarius on the 22nd leading us into Thanksgiving. Our resistance may soften, give way to broader outlooks, spiritual and philosophical perspectives especially as the Sun aligns helpfully with radical Uranus. Surpise and ingenuity rule this week so take a little adventure over the holiday. Do something, visit somewhere you have never done or gone before. It will do you a world of good.
We know Thanksgiving is a time to come together. Keep in mind the larger picture and end goal of this pivotal era: to bring humanity together. To show us that individuals are simply parts of a collective whole, that each of us fills a missing part of another, even those we vilify or disagree with, for they awaken us to greater self-awareness.
During this season of gratitude, let's remember the Dalai Lama's words: "We can make this a more peaceful century if we cherish non-violence and concern for others' well-being. It is possible. If the individual is happier, his or her family is happier; if families are happier, neighborhoods and nations will be happy." By transforming ourselves we can change our human way of life and make this a century of compassion."
Use your power for good.
Hilary's personal astrology readings are available via www.hilaryharley.com, www.tremont-tearoom.com, and www.celestial-beginnings.com.
Loaded events carry over into November. Like a match to a firecracker, this month starts with Pluto exactly challenging Uranus. These two have tangoed for a long while and will for a time yet to come. Out with the old and in with the new this pattern hammers at us, pummeling our lives until we do as we're told. And shown. Get rid of habits, relationships, jobs, you-name-it, that do not work or serve you.
Only two days later a solar eclipse occurs in powerful Scorpio on Sunday, November 3rd. The strength of this eclipse is difficult to overstate. Scorpio is about power, karma, transformation and the ultimate transformative processes for human beings: sex, death, sharing joint resources (ie, bank accounts, land, cash, property of any kind). Money. All eclipses mark significant passages in our lives. What makes this particular eclipse so strong is its close tie to Saturn, the north node of the moon and messenger Mercury, all in Scorpio. There is no mistaking the message we are to hear now. Like a door swinging on a hinge, closing behind us for good, this is a pivotal point in time. Get busy, get down to brass tacks, get going making changes in your life so you can healthfully, meaningfully live the rest of your life.
Let's begin with Saturn's role in the eclipse. The most serious planet in the zodiac, Saturn demands responsibility and integrity in all we do. The rings around Saturn symbolically tell us: until we can contain and control our own lives, effectively, responsibly and honorably, Saturn (or life forces) will bind us by curtailing and inhibiting our freedom and choices. In the powerful sign of Scorpio, Saturn demands us to change but also gives us a clean slate and fresh start. We can settle debts now. Saturn is often viewed as the party-pooper, dour albeit wise. However, Saturn wants us to be our best selves. Demands nothing less than greatness to serve the purpose we are here to live. That said, for those ignoring life lessons or their true path, Saturn will strip you bare and insist we behave, deliver what is coming to us. Better to live honestly, don't you think, than continue trying to get away with something? Think of the thief who has perpetually gotten away with the goods, time after time, never been caught. Bernard Madoff comes to mind. Time's up, says Saturn. Time to pay the penalty. Time, after all, is ruled by Saturn. It tells us: it is only a matter of time before life catches up with you. One of the primary Universal Laws is that of Cause and Effect. "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction," might well have been dictated by Saturn.
Drawing us further into this reality is Mercury tightly conjoined with the moon's north node. Like True North, the north node calls us forward, pulling us toward our destiny. Meanwhile, retrograde Mercury turns us inward like a scope diving into the deepest reaches of our psyche to examine just exactly who we are and to tell us like it is. In Scorpio, we will feel every inch of this message. What we hear, live and learn may be stark, harsh, profound, revealing, and powerful...For if nothing else, Scorpio is about power.
If you have shied away from stepping into your own power, this eclipse insists you embrace just how powerful you truly are. One. Step. At. A. Time. On another note, power struggles of all kinds are highlighted now and brought to a head. Often those afraid or reluctant to accept and be powerful become victimized by those who do not wield power compassionately. Is someone or some situation holding power over you? Economically/financially, emotionally or psychologically? Are you the victim or perpetrator of abuse? Abuse can often be surreptitious as Scorpio rules what is hidden: power that is manipulated from behind the scenes, for good or ill.
Remember, power does not mean aggression, anger, vicious behavior or words, although it is often expressed this way. Power simply means asserting strength through choice and action. At its best, power is wielded with kindness and compassion, such as anonymous generosity via donation or action that helps another. Withholding harmful gossip. Shielding or protecting another from pain. This is the purest form of power. Think of the policewoman in Florida who recently caught a mother stealing food from a grocery store. Drive to desperation, the mother resorted to theft to feed her children. The policewoman understood that arresting the mother would only compound the family's circumstance by making it more dire than it already was. Instead of taking her into custody, the policewoman gave $100 of her own money to the mother so she could buy food. "Watching the kids unload the groceries," she said, "you would have thought it was Christmas."
That is power.
In the shamelessly exhibitionist, reality-TV, celebrity-obsessesed world we live in, it is essential to remember how much we, all of life, are sustained by the sheer goodness of the vast majority. Most of this compassionate power is purely unseen. Just because it is invisible does not invalidate its existence. The reverse is actually true: it is the glue upholding the world and stitching the fabric of life together.
And, now, a word about sex. Scorpio rules sex and there is an immense emphasis on it during this time. How is your sex life? Good, great, non-existent, indifferent? Are you having an affair or thinking about having one? Has bisexuality, the gay or transgender life crossed your mind; or perhaps, emerged as a life you want to lead? Scorpio demands you to live your truth to ensure your deepest needs are met. You are a sexual being. Attend to this side of yourself. Since Scorpio rules our shadow, the dark side of life, a word of caution: Ask yourself, where does passion turn into obsession, or become an ugly addiction? Sex is fabulous so long as it doesn't become all you do or want to do, just like the consumption of alcohol, gambling or any behavior that can turn dark.
Even routines that have become so rote giving our lives little substance or dwindle purpose to nothingness fall within Scorpio's domain. You may not like to think of your routine and habitual comforts as obsessive compulsions bordering on addictions. Take a second, deeper look, however. Are they confining you into a life of safety but not fullness, beauty, risk...? Every day a little death, wrote Stephen Sondheim. Live a little instead, stings Scorpio. You may have no other choice around November 3 with the eclipse, Saturn, Mercury and the moon's north node pushing us to transform, change it up. This month may very well shatter its share of lives. But it is through the cracks of our smashed pieces that the Light is able to pour in. When we resist, we block the Light; Light shining hope on us to grow, evolve, be our best selves. Tip: surrender, do not resist.
This will be especially true for relationships, to your Self, your Shadow and to others. Catalyzed by newly elevated planet Ceres at a critical degree of Libra, relationships are put on notice. Love yourself: the good, the bad and the ugly. Change what you can and embrace what you cannot...ie, your Shadow. For therein lies your greatest strength...the thing you least like about yourself. What you dislike in others is a mirror for what you dislike in yourself. With Ceres at a decisive degree, there is no more fence-sitting: get in or get out, get on or be done with it. If you decide to stay in certain relationships, figure out how to make them work for both of you. Ceres demands balance now between you and the outer world, you and the other person.
The other person may very well be a family member or loved one, especially around November 7. Jupiter in nurturing Cancer turns retrograde just as Saturn reaches a critical degree of Scorpio. Family matters will take the forefront. Anything hidden or buried from the past, old wounds, unresolved arguments, stories intentionally withheld, will be dealt with now. The good news is that a flowing angle between Jupiter, Saturn and the Sun make it easier to pull old closeted situations out to look at, talk about, and heal.
This can include financial concerns, joint/shared property, particularly the familial kind. Be aware of financial manipulation. Secure your home and property as well. Theft figures into this picture. Conversely, pots of gold might just surface now. That Aunt you heard about but never met might leave you a chunk of change. Were you her only living relative? Family karmic debts will be settled now; prepare to receive or pay up. By extension, estates may either end up in court with relatives fighting bitterly over them (read: resistance to change behavior), or reach resolution. May the latter be your circumstance! In any event, attempts to hide ugly parts, the pieces and people we disown, just will not work now and going forward. Everything has a glaring light shining on it.
This is really true after messenger Mercury turns direct motion on November 11, and further clarified by Neptune as it turns direct on November 14. What has been put on hold, delayed, or misconstrued is now clear and ready for action. Get busy cleaning up and clearing out the old and making way to accomplish the new and fulfilling in your life, be it projects, business ventures, relationships. Now is a terrific time to dive in head first and launch new endeavors. The energy at mid month is heightened when transformer Pluto joins Venus on November 15 in Capricorn. Great for building anything, practical and pragmatic Capricorn will show you how to climb that mountain in front of you, step by step. Black and white, stark by nature, Capricorn informs this planetary duo about who and what works or does not work, the people and parts of our lives that function well and other aspects that need to be rehabbed or scrapped altogether. That is Capricorn.
Saturn rules Capricorn and both rule Time. Venus in Capricorn asks how much time and energy do you really want to sink into relationships, especially those that are dysfunctional? One particular aspect to note during mid-November pertaining to Pluto (power) and Venus (love and money): power struggles involving our relationships and money (and our relationship to money) will either reach new plateaus, new lows or be settled once and for all. Ask yourself, who has the power in your relationships and who does not? Does money have power over you?
Furthering our insights about this pair is their alliance with the moon in earthy Taurus, as well as beneficial angles to healer Chiron, messenger Mercury and the north node of the moon. Deep healing is possible now enabling us to chart new courses for ourselves and our relationships as we purge and cleanse old patterns and utilize our best parts. All efforts point to maximizing function and constructive operation. Again, this is Capricorn.
November 13-20th is a significant week with Saturn at an attention-getting degree of Scorpio. High profile news, changes, deaths and events will occur. Continuing from late October, mysteries still unfold and revelations clarifying what was heretofore misunderstood or unknown. Venus/Pluto's beneficial angle to Jupiter will lessen the severity of those experiencing loss or difficulty during this passage.
The Sun enters Sagittarius on the 22nd leading us into Thanksgiving. Our resistance may soften, give way to broader outlooks, spiritual and philosophical perspectives especially as the Sun aligns helpfully with radical Uranus. Surpise and ingenuity rule this week so take a little adventure over the holiday. Do something, visit somewhere you have never done or gone before. It will do you a world of good.
We know Thanksgiving is a time to come together. Keep in mind the larger picture and end goal of this pivotal era: to bring humanity together. To show us that individuals are simply parts of a collective whole, that each of us fills a missing part of another, even those we vilify or disagree with, for they awaken us to greater self-awareness.
During this season of gratitude, let's remember the Dalai Lama's words: "We can make this a more peaceful century if we cherish non-violence and concern for others' well-being. It is possible. If the individual is happier, his or her family is happier; if families are happier, neighborhoods and nations will be happy." By transforming ourselves we can change our human way of life and make this a century of compassion."
Use your power for good.
Hilary's personal astrology readings are available via www.hilaryharley.com, www.tremont-tearoom.com, and www.celestial-beginnings.com.
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