Pow-Pow, Bang-Bang: Venus and Uranus turn Retrograde. Are you at 6s and 7s?

July opens with the first of two Full Moons, on July 2^nd and the latter, July 31^st.   The July 2^nd full moon is supercharged.  The Sun is tightly conjoined to Motivating Mars in maternal Cancer, aligning our will and energy. Both oppose the Moon (our emotions) and transformer Pluto.  In other words:  something’s gotta give…and explosively since Mars challenges the lunar nodes, the directional points pushing us away from the past and pulling us into the future.  

Because of the action-oriented signs and planets involved, family dynamics are drawn into special focus.  Mars is not comfortable in nurturing Cancer and can really make waves.  Emotions are at a peak the first week of July.   Expect movement and decisions regarding the home front, real estate/property, children and family figures, and relationships of all sizes.  Including your nation. Cancer rules one’s native land and your relationship to it.   With Mars-Sun challenging the Moon and Pluto in tough-minded Capricorn, an impact to and/or a transformation of the homeland is indicated.  Since ISIS is in the global picture, terrorist threats are very real around the beginning of the month.

The silver lining of the July 2 Full Moon is Venus (love) tightly conjoined to Jupiter (abundance) in creative Leo.  This pair forms a beautiful angle to change-agent Uranus all month long granting radical, abundant love in the most unexpected places:  our work, our creativity, our homes and family, our nations, or ourselves.  Discovering how much we do in fact treasure our very own talents and gifts is one of the greatest benefits of this planetary mix.

Absolute Love abounds all month long with Venus-Jupiter-Uranus.  In many cases, this means breaking out of the old mold and starting fresh.  Discoveries, breakthroughs and revelations abound both interpersonally, personal ah-hah moments, as well as scientifically and in business.  Wow.  If someone, something, a person or job, has not been working for you in any capacity, remember:  you do have rights.  Venus-Jupiter in brave, courageous Leo will give you more than enough strength, support and downright chutzpah to make the necessary changes incited by Radical Uranus. Thus there may very well be drama with huge showdowns.   Expect show offs and those seeking to show-up and upstage others.  Leo rules bigtime drama and Radical Uranus is sassy.  This cluster doesn’t care whose toes it steps on, insults or hurts.  Despite the potential for enormous love with this mix, terrorists will use the power of this for maximum effect as we’ve seen already in the last week of June with three attacks on Friday, June 26^th.

Struggles of the deepest and most serious kind are at play now as Venus-Jupiter in Leo increasingly squares off with heavyweight Saturn as it dips back into Scorpio for a final passage.  Saturn rules current events and in the last degrees of intense Scorpio, we are asked to dig deeper than we ever thought possible to work through psychological, financial, sexual and power struggles.  Saturn’s challenge to Venus-Jupiter calls us to be brave like never before, to transform ourselves, situations and relationships.  To tap into the mighty brawn of this energy and use it for constructive, positive purposes (not destructive as in the case of ISIS or the Charleston shooter), we can effect change for the better far faster than ever possible.  The miraculous power of forgiveness exhibited by the relatives of the Charleston victims spawned a tidal wave of love and unity precisely the opposite of what the murderer intended.  Calls for the Confederate flag, a symbol of slavery and oppression, to finally be removed from official government buildings in the South are falling like dominoes, one after the other.  This is the power of LOVE.  It can blast through the most hardened of hearts and outdated systems.  Radical love:  the outpouring of community and national love.  That is Uranus’ twist to this troika:  surprise, radical shifts and outcomes. 

This too applies to the hard-fought win by gay activists in their battle for marriage equality under the US Supreme Court.  Love indeed conquers all.  Under this Full Moon on July 2, our messages are clear and targeted as Messenger Mercury aligns beautifully with our hearts/gifts (Venus-Jupiter) sparking change by Uranus.  Over the July 4^th weekend, we feel lighter as the Moon joins this cluster.  Freedom can be found.  Be ours. 

July 8^th, Mercury moves into nurturing Cancer joining Mars and the Sun.  This second week of the month the Messenger planet sharply challenges the lunar nodes, testing the accuracy of our message(s), challenging our ideas and thoughts about relationships and the direction these need to take.  A particularly nice aspect this week from July 11^th – 14^th is Neptune’s harmonious angle to Motivating Mars and Messenger Mercury, joined by the Moon at mid-month, to heighten our intuition, energy, thoughts and emotions.  Lovely. Stop and listen:  if you feel a vibe about someone or something, TRUST it now.

July 16^th brings the New Moon in Cancer.  Both Mercury (thoughts and speech) and Mars (directed energy) in nurturing Cancer oppose Pluto in hard-nosed Capricorn.  So mean what you say and say what you mean especially in regard to any family members or matters pertaining to house, home, food, trusts/estates, children and the elderly.  Mars rules fire and in its opposition to Pluto (the undertaker), use extra caution in the home.  Be sure all cigarettes, gas stoves and appliances are extinguished or turned off.  It wouldn’t hurt to be a little OCD (obsessive compulsive) around the time of the New Moon – go back and check to make sure the front door is locked and equipment is unplugged if you are leaving on vacation.

July 18^th, Venus enters Virgo, the sign of work and health, offering level heads and practical solutions both interpersonally and at work.  Venus is not especially comfortable in analytical, hardworking Virgo but adds exponentially to our work ethic.   In Virgo, Venus gets the job done.  And she headlines the news this month as she first tightly conjoins Jupiter but then turns retrograde on July 25^th.  The planet of love and money revisits Leo all through August and will station direct motion (go forward again) just after Labor Day.  Relationships of all kinds, sizes and natures, family, romantic partnerships and work are given a thorough review and housecleaning.  Our relationship to money, be it healthy or not, is also under scrutiny.  This is an excellent time to take a hard look at your spending habits.  Are your credit cards maxed out?  Do you have a rainy day fund or college fund for the kids?  Is your homeowners or life insurance paid up?  Do you even have any?  All monetary accounts are due for a hard look.  Take stock while you have a day off in the summertime to go over your financial files.

The very next day, July 26^th, Uranus turns retrograde too!  This motion in combination with Venus’ retrograde can truly make us feel like we are at 6s and 7s with the world around us.  What on earth is happening here?  It can be deeply unsettling and unnerving.  Uranus rules earthquakes and lightning strikes, the unexpected in everything.  Surprise and Eureka are its watchwords.  Prepare as best you can for your day and week as we are often caught off guard around Uranus retrograde.

July ends with a Full Moon on the 31^st leading us under its daring, creative bright light decorated by festive Venus, Jupiter, Messenger Mercury and the Sun in Leo.  Be bold.  Be daring. Be courageous. Make like a lion and roar.

Finding, then following, the Middle Path

As the month of June opens, the Full Moon in Sagittarius occurs on Tuesday, the 2nd.    This particular Full Moon asks us to honor our emotional truth.  To be emotionally honest.  This is not the easiest of Full Moons as it forms challenging angles to Neptune in watery Pisces and Messenger Mercury and the Sun, our will in communicative Geminii.    All Full Moons bring to a piece of our life to culmination and shines a bright light on what work we have yet to accomplish.  With the planets and signs involved, it is essential to focus and strive for clarity and truth in both our purpose and message...the messages we deliver to others and messages it is critical for us to receive.

Since Neptune is entwined in this mix, confusion, deception, and disillusionment are all at play, especially regarding thoughts, speech, or anything written.   If you are considering significant changes in life circumstances and relationships, take your time. Think things over.   Neptune and the sign it rules, Pisces, deal with illusion, govern image, film, the movies, and photography.  So there is a very strong possibility that situations or people appear not to be what they actually are.   Appear one way when they are in reality, something very, very different.  Think:  false images.  Mirages.  Through June 12^th, before Mercury turns direct motion, really do your homework on all fronts.  Make lists and ask pointed questions.  Re-re-research.   Read the fine print and in between the lines especially of insurance policies, any kind of contracts or significant documents to be signed.  Review words and language, both verbal and written.

Because Neptune rules water, matters concerning water also draw our attention now:  be it plumbing, appliances using water, swimming, bodies of water, and overflowing water.  Folks in Texas, Oklahoma and parts of the American Midwest know exactly what I’m referring to after the unprecedented rains flooding that region.  June will bring cleanup to the havoc caused by recent weather there.  The upside of Neptune is that is also the great cleanser, like a planetary washing machine, bearing much healing potential.   What needs to be (or should be) washed clean from your life?  Where do you need to do some housecleaning/keeping either actually or emotionally, psychologically, financially, etc?  The beginning of June is an excellent time for a thorough review and an in-depth honest look at what is not functioning well in your life, to contemplate approaches to fix and correct these areas and make a coordinated plan.  Once Messenger Mercury turns direct on June 12, proceed full speed.

And we’ve been itching to hit the accelerator of our lives.  The immense power, strength and creative ingenuity driving us now derives from the on-going alliance between Generous Jupiter and Radical Uranus.  In fiery Leo and Aries respectively, these two powerhouse planets offer us a plethora of creative solutions throughout the summer.  Feel the Force?  Depending on where they align in your chart, you are afforded an absolute treasure trove of riches to find your way and forge new paths. 

This energy is tremendously helpful for making new starts in life, relationships, work or projects.  So before Mercury turns direct motion on the 12^th,  just stop for a few moments; take time out from the hustle and bustle, that incredible engine driving us onward, the noise that drowns our lives, including our own voices.   Take only five minutes a day to really listen, hear, what your soul is trying to say:  dare to reach higher, deeper, leave the job, relationship, break free, you can do it, yes you can.  Start fresh, try something completely different, unknown to you.   Right now the cosmos is offering immense support for how to accomplish the work, follow your heart, and fulfill your potential.

Heart. Passion. Romance. Creativity.  Generous Jupiter Leo gives us tons of these qualities and then some throughout the summer months, while Uranus in Aries fires up our energy and drive.  Where do you want to go?  How do you want to live…what sort of lifestyle?  Who do you want to be?  Fire away my friend.  You’ve got this!  The Force only grows stronger as we move ahead into June.   

Beneficent Venus passes from sensitive Cancer to join Jupiter in festive Leo on Saturday, June 6^th where she will remain for the rest of the month, adding to the creative rocket boost formed by Jupiter-Uranus.  Any parties, partnerships, creative projects, romantic pursuits, sports activities (all ruled by Leo) take off now.  This fire sign also rules pleasure, good old fashioned FUN so June has the potential to be an outright blast.   Let go.  Let your hair down.  Do the happy dance.  Or the hippy, free-to-be-you-and-me dance.   Join hands and sing to your heart’s delight.  After a very long winter in North America, so much toil, take time off for relaxation, to celebrate a job well done.

Leo is also about cosmetics and costumes, and…clothing.  Ladies:  when was the last time you cleaned out your make-up drawer and bought fresh lipsticks and mascara?  Gentlemen:  how about a new grooming or shaving set?  It is high past time.  For all of us:  have you looked at your clothes lately?  Use Mercury’s final week of retrograde motion to clean out your wardrobes and closets.  Then do some real shopping.  Invest in some new threads.   Where is your wardrobe lacking?  Shoes, lingerie, sportswear, accessories, business attire?  Take a thorough study, make a list and hit the stores.   A little something new always makes you feel better, look nicer, too.   The timing is key especially at mid-month when Venus’ (beauty) in Leo (costume/clothing) helpful angle to the Lunar North Node in Libra (beauty).  Decorate thyself says this pair.  Now is the time to spruce up your self.  Leo likes to strut its stuff so prepare to take center stage!

Given that Leo is also about F-U-N and pleasure, use the first half of June to plan the vacation you always wanted to take (or at a minimum, need to take).  Then when Mercury turns direct motion near mid-month, buy those tickets, get set and go!  The very same day, Neptune turns retrograde.  So subtle in its effect, we often feel Neptune but do not know why something is happening, much less how to react/what to do about it.  Often, no action is called for.  Try to remember that Neptune is the great purifier, bringing us to our highest and best selves, no matter how hard we resist or how well we flow with life’s currents.  Better to flow than fight…right?!

With Messenger Mercury’s continuing challenge to Neptune for most of June, we may feel as though we have a low-grade fever or are in a fog.  What is wrong with me?   You might ask.  But you just can’t seem to put your finger on it.  So let's take a closer look:   Mercury in Geminii is acutely wired to the mental plane.  Cycling through this sign, the messenger planet figures out how to linguistically and logistically maneuver any which way on a dime.  Not so fast says soulful Neptune.  Instead of skidding along the surface as Geminii and Mercury like to do, take a deeper, richer, slower look at your life prods the ruler of the Deep.

That mental hangover you feel, that low-grade “what is wrong…?” sense that just won’t go away gently pushes us to ask the stronger questions, or, pay attention to those in our lives asking/showing

us what is critical to focus on.   Because...also on June 12th, this sense is exacerbated by the challenging angle between Mars (our energy) and the Sun, our will, in chatty Gemini and Healer Chiron (our deepest wounds) in Pisces.  Even if we try to ignore the callings of our souls, the heart-felt entreaties of loved ones telling us what we must know, this troika will not let us escape.  Forced to face up and focus, how will you respond?  With loving kindness and thoughtful compassion?  If talks get too heated, take a breath.  Step out of the room.  Walk around the block and get some air.  Carefully think through your words, what to say.  Does the other person have a point?  What is this person/situation trying to teach you?  Do you really know everything or is it time to let go and let God (through another) help out a bit?

Meanwhile, be mindful of Venus-Jupiter-Uranus tugging at you to party-hearty into distraction instead of doing the soul-searching work required.   Let’s just say, if we don’t seek to balance the pieces of our lives, Saturn’s return to heavyweight Scorpio on June 15^th makes sure we do.  For the rest of the summer, we must revisit lessons still waiting to be learned.  With its x ray vision, Scorpio leaves no stone unturned while taskmaster Saturn’s final passage thru this sign ensures we will feel our soul’s work yet to be finished like no tomorrow.   Where the Neptune-Mercury’s challenge seeks an escape hatch, Saturn in the last degrees of Scorpio says, go ahead:   I dare you.  Try it.  See what happens.  You will just be wasting your time…   Because there is no escape from soul work.  There is only honoring your truth.  Sticking to the path.  Doing the work.  The old-fashioned way:  with patience, hard work, grit and elbow grease.  The key lies (as always) in a balanced approach.  And, especially at mid-month, the lunar North Node in Libra draws us to balance all aspects of our lives:  family, work, play.   Do the work then play.  Escape for some fun. 

Make wise choices, ones that you will not regret.  Prepare for the New Moon in Geminii on Tuesday, June 16 by meditating on the best possibilities to maximize positive results.  Then plant those seed at the lunar first quarter around June 22, when we are graced with the Sun’s movement into compassionate Cancer.   The summer solstice grants us the longest light to see ourselves and our world more clearly.  Forgive your past mistakes and the transgressions of others.  Pull up the weeds around the flower bed of your life to allow and give permission to fully blossom.

The Solstice promises to be mighty festive indeed with party girl Venus at a super strong degree of festive Leo and conjoined to Generous Jupiter.  Two days later on June 24^th, motivating Mars joins the Sun in Cancer where both challenge the Moon and its North Node in Libra.  This combination draws our attention like nothing else to family, relationships, nurturing, food, relatives, house and home.   Remember, family does not have to be blood ties.  It can also be those we consider family, either friends and loved ones in mutually nurturing relationships.  Consider also your own home:  apartment/house and physical body.  Where we have neglected our responsibilities on the home front, whether a leaky roof, eating junk food, children or elderly relatives, we are called now to take care, nurture and remedy the situation. 

By month’s end, the Sun-Mars duo in caring Cancer forms a deeply helpful angle to Neptune, aligning our will, energy and intuition.  This is a powerful combination.  That vibe you are feeling, that gut instinct stirring inside:  pay attention and follow through on it.  See where it leads.  The small whispering voice is the source of truth….unlike ego which bellows and brags.  Sun-Mars-Neptune offers a strikingly subtle contrast to Venus-Jupiter now tightly conjoined in boisterous Leo aligning with chatty Mercury in Geminii.  Try not to be overwhelmed by the latter trioka’s noise, distraction and hullabaloo.  Again, follow the call of the lunar Libra North Node.  It points the way to a balance between answering our truth and a festive flair for living.   Balancing the polarities of our lives, the yin and yang, fun and work, is always challenging.  It takes poise and a whole lot of practice.  So make like a Buddhist and walk upon the Middle Path.

Double Take Gemini: What's Underneath the Hood?

As we turn from April into May, our awareness is heightened by the waxing Moon.   Under its strong light, old issues are dug up to look at beneath the inescapable glare, especially involving family:  either your own or the larger human family that we share.  

For the past two years in the United States, the centuries-old disgrace of racism has been scrutinized as scenes of police brutality (white police harming or killing black males) repeatedly emerge from every region of our country.  Just when you think it cannot possibly get worse, something worse occurs.  The scourge of racism is just one example of a seemingly buried/solved/ignored (insert word of your choice) problem continuously claiming our attention, to be reviewed and ideally, corrected and healed.   Such crises are occurring on an individual and collective level everywhere.  It is the continuing fall out from transformer Pluto’s challenge to radical Uranus but now highlighted in extreme by the approaching Full Moon on Sunday, May 3rd.

In deep, dark Scorpio, this Full Moon (our emotions) pulls into an exact challenge with Jupiter, and both challenge the Sun in Taurus (our will).  Big and grand, Jupiter slices precisely in between our emotional selves and exterior identities, pushing and shoving its way to get our attention.  The Scorpio moon cuts like a gut-wrenching, emotional laser while the Sun in pragmatic Taurus says get real.  Let’s look for realistic solutions.   Usually, generous Jupiter smooths over our concerns to help find solutions.   Now, however, in this difficult configuration Jupiter only adds to the harried juice as it cycles through Leo.  Drama rules the day, exacerbated by Jupiter’s otherwise helpful alignment to Rebellious Uranus.  Immense drama combined with outrageous rebellion is never a good mix.  The result:   horrific tumult in Baltimore.   The loaded cosmic cocktail rants, raves and rages like a giant toddler.  It pulls out all the stops to make us pay attention.  And as any two year old knows, negative attention is better than no attention at all…right?!    We are forced to SEE what we have refused to look at.    “So you thought that [racism]problem was solved?” asks this planetary trio.  Really…?  “Well, look again!”      See all those disenfranchised, unemployed youths wailing away, destroying Baltimore?    Dramatically taking their angst to extremes.  Making us feel their emptiness, pain from lack of purpose.  Such is the effect of this planetary punch. 

And, the cataclysmic earthquake in Nepal (Uranus rules earthquakes) is another result of this combo.

On an individual front, if we have ignored our emotional work and life lessons, this Full Moon glaringly demonstrates what we still have yet to do.   The energy of April's last week and the first week of May is hammered home by taskmaster Saturn and messenger Mercury.   In truthful Sagittarius, Saturn demands honesty and integrity while opposing Mercury in flexible Gemini looks for innumerable ways of answering, speaking, or responding.  Or, a way out.   Gemini Mercury tends to play both ends against the middle, acting like a magician, maneuvering deftly through sticky situations; whereas, Sagittarian Saturn demands we tow the line, period.  Be sure you speak in equal parts from your heart and head, honestly, carefully, adeptly, adroitly.  Due to the BIGness of these cosmic effects, there is a sense under this Full Moon that “all eyes are watching” right now.  So speak the truth OR the truth will be spoken for you, in front of you, to spite you, to ensure right language and intent are conveyed by all. 

Just remember:  you can run but you cannot hide.   Karma will bite you in the fanny if you but try.

Other notes to watch during May’s opening salvo:  Jupiter in Leo wants to party hard.  So aim for fun but be careful of your intake, both with alcohol and food.  Accept a designated driver, leave the party at its peak when everyone is having a good time.   With the Sun and Full Moon’s beneficial angle to both transformer Pluto and asteroid Hygeia in nurturing Cancer, there is optimal healing available.  Go slow.  Take your time.  Exercise emotional patience and tolerance.  Count to FIVE before answering.  You’ll find steadier ground to stand on when you do.

On Thursday, May 7^th, Venus moves into tender Cancer nurturing relationships, work and projects we care for.  Over the next two weeks, Venus forms a hugely helpful angle to Neptune, heightening our intuition.  Trust your gut!   If something or someone does not feel right, follow that lead 100%.  If you are already committed but have grave doubts, flexible Mercury in Gemini will help you talk your way out of a binding agreement.  But be sure of the direction you do want to go because once Mercury turns retrograde on Tuesday, May 19, words, contracts, situations get way trickier to negotiate and navigate.

Mars enters talkative Gemini on Tuesday, May 12^th, gradually joining Mercury for the remainder of the month.   Mars is action and Mercury is how we think and talk.  So be mindful that this combination, especially with Mercury turned retrograde, yields prickly words and sticky language.  Do your part to speak and live honorably.  Venus in caring Cancer helps smooth out feathers that Mars/Mercury in Gemini may ruffle up.  Still, it is key to remember now:  once words are out of the mouth, they cannot be taken back.  Thinking before you speak is critical as we head into Mercury’s reversal the following week.  Harness the planets for better instead of worse; use the energy to your advantage:  the Mars/Mercury combo is great for research, writing, meditation, reviewing language, thinking things over.  All of the Retrograde words come into play at mid-May:  read, relax, rewind, renew…

The New Moon on Monday, May 18^th, the day before Mercury turns retrograde, is perfect for contemplation, goal setting, putting out intentions.  Sit still.  Make like a fixed Taurus New Moon and park yourself on the spring green grass beneath a tree.  Immerse yourself in quiet solitude even if for ten precious minutes.  Close your eyes.  Calm your mercurial thoughts.  Breathe into them.  Chant a mantra. What do you feel?  What do you hear?  What do you know? 

With Jupiter at a powerfully strong degree, 15 Leo, making super beneficial angles to both Mercury and Uranus, envision the person you can be and step into those shoes.  Believe you are that person and so you shall be.  With Mercury/Mars in Gemini, it is essential to align and infuse your thoughts positively.  Carefully guard and protect your thoughts from negative energy and yourself from negative people who may pull you, literally, in the wrong direction.  This planetary combination manifests reality like crazy so only aim for what you do want, not what you do not want to create. 

Just days later on May 21, the Sun enters Gemini too, joining Mercury and Mars, maximizing our magician-like abilities to create our own reality and be optimally flexible.  It is toward positive manifestation that we must point ourselves as we enter the final week of the month.  Of note:  Mercury crosses back over Mars, mixing up and sharpening words and language from May 25-28^th.  If ever there is a time to bite your tongue, swallow words before speaking, hold off on signing significant contracts, documents and purchases, this is it! 

After Mercury turns direct motion on June 11^th, go for broke.  In the interim, do your research (Re!) homework.  Look for the best possible deal.  Dig beneath the surface and ask questions.  Even if those questions seem invasive.  It never hurts to ask up front what is under the hood:  of an appliance, a relationship, a contractor, a prospective employer, etc.  After June 11, dive in to products and projects.  The extreme benefit of Mercury/Mars/Sun in Gemini the last week of May is the gift of thinking and rethinking.  I’m not one to recommend over-thinking anything; but this month, we are prone to do so and with good reason.  With all of the tumult and conflict in our world, this month is an exceptional time for Reflection and contemplation:   what steps will you take to create your best self?  To create your most inviting reality?

The uber harmonious alliance between generous Jupiter and radical Uranus continues throughout the summer, granting time to harness its wildly exciting opportunities.  With time to ponder now, why not accept May’s invitation to slow down, dig into the earth, the soul of yourself and reveal buried treasures lying in wait?   Just waiting to wind past the gates of summer so you may flower into your full potential.

We have lift-off!

April opens up between two eclipses.  The first, on March 20^th, was a total solar eclipse on the New Moon, while the second falls on Saturday, April 4^th, Easter and Passover weekend.  It is a total lunar eclipse of the Full Moon.  The period between eclipses is a notorious void, not unlike a black hole where what you initiate during this time frame can fall flat.   Best to wait until after the second eclipse on April 4^th to invest in anything you hope to grow and develop.  Better still, if you can push forward with plans on or after Wednesday April 8^th, Joyous Jupiter will give you and your plans a gigantic boost as it turns direct motion.

If there is one word to describe the time on and around the April 4th eclipse, it is volcanic.  With Mercury, the Lunar South Node, the Sun, and Uranus all tightly conjoined in fiery Aries and challenging transformer Pluto, expect radical surprise, a change of will and change of heart.  Explosive growth, eureka/ah-ha discovery-revelatory moments are at hand, especially as stationary Jupiter makes a highly beneficial angle to the Sun-Uranus-Moon trio.   This April is one of those overnight sensation or life-turning-on-a-dime periods, when the completely impossible becomes very, very possible, and very, very real.   Really.  Truly.  Miraculous.  Thus it is imperative to align your thoughts positively, and keep negative thoughts, words and behavior at arms-length.  Believe and trust that all will be well.

Because with Messenger Mercury in this super-charged mix, if you think it, so it will be.  That’s how powerful this time is.  In other scenarios, those who have put up and shut up about their living or work situations for far too long will now find the courage, strength and voice to speak up.  Where in your life have you held back, been too restrained (kind/cautious), not said your piece, spoken/lived your truth, stood up for yourself or another, more vulnerable self?  In a relationship, job, dream you haven’t pursued out of fear, money or inconvenience…?

The good news is there are grounding elements that help us maintain a foothold while we think our world is spinning out of control.  This helps root and brace our bodies, minds and souls during the havoc and tumult pre and post eclipse.   In earthy Taurus, Venus’ wonderful angle to Pluto in pragmatic Capricorn firmly plants us in the work at hand, what must be done, and how to go about it with a practical, step-by-step guide.  Also in Taurus, Mars aligns helpfully with Neptune and the healing asteroid Hygeia, the latter two in water signs assist with cleansing, compassion, and clarification.  With Neptune’s continued challenging angle to taskmaster Saturn in Sagittarius, the truth comes to the surface.  Beautifully dovetailing these truths, Messenger Mercury pairs with the Lunar South Node to deliver messages all around.  Stop and listen to the words of others.  Really hear children….”out of the mouths of babes…”, or those passing through your life for just a moment, the words and lyrics of songs on the radio, listen to the vulnerable.   Take messages to the heart, then act.

With the eclipse challenging Transformer Pluto, facades, fakes and phonies are exposed to stand naked under the radical light of this planetary combo.  Terrorists and the unstable will feel fully justified for any extreme measures they exact.  With Messenger Mercury in impulsive Aries conjoined to the eclipse energy, it is essential to slow down, use the grounding earth energy that Venus, Mars and Pluto now offer to think before you speak and definitely before acting.   During this critical, pivotal time, ASK:  am I helping or hurting, adding to the problem or solving it, am I part of the cure or part of the disease?  Are your choices productive or destructive, to you or anyone else?

As with any cosmic energy, it can be used or directed positively or negatively.  There is tremendous positive energy available with this eclipse so be sure your intentions are aligned with the highest and purest purpose.  Create well.  Turn toward good, wholesome, positive.  When Jupiter turns direct motion on Wednesday, April 8^th, launch projects full steam ahead.  The same day, the Moon conjoins hardworking Saturn in Sagittarius igniting our beliefs and faith in our potential, what we hope to accomplish either personally or professionally.  This combination really says the sky is the limit.  How high can you aim your arrow?

Toward mid-month, Venus enters talkative Geminii on April 11^th unleashing your curiosity, interest in broader topics, your community, siblings and world at large.  Opposite Saturn, Venus probes the truth of relationships and the circumstances you find yourself in, including money matters and/or how you earn your living and those with whom you work.  Do you like how your job?  Is there some more engaging, stimulating way to spend your time (Saturn), your waking hours?  The Venus-Saturn opposition prods us to ask if we are being honest in all of our relationships including with ourselves?

Three days later, Messenger Mercury joins Mars in earthy Taurus on April 14^th, lending a pragmatic beauty and practical realism to our thoughts and ideas.  Mars is moving into a highly beneficial position with transformer Pluto, incredibly helpful for preparing, planning and planting projects:  anything we want to build, create or grow, including healthy relationships.  The challenge herein lies with Mars difficult angle to Jupiter.  In festive, fiery Leo, Joyous Jupiter beckons us to party hearty, create like there is no tomorrow, while the Mars-Pluto alliance says go deep or go home.   This planetary mash up suggests using your time and energy for the highest and best good.  In other words, assign (and use) a designated driver.  Don’t be stubborn and think you can get behind the wheel of a car.  Do not take on more than you can handle now, at home, in the community or on the job.  Ask for help if you need it.  On a higher plane, this planetary trio is wildly creative and productive, giving us ample stamina and drive to drill down to the very essence of a problem/theory/creative endeavor to be solved or produced.  It is the kind of energy that leaves absolutely no stone unturned and penultimate, awe-inspiring beauty in its wake.  Think:  musical/artistic/scientific genius.  Pure brilliance.  Shine bright like a diamond…

Be sure to leave behind you a trail of beauty and solutions or cures rather than a mess to be cleaned up by someone else.  Let Mercury in Taurus be your guide.

On Friday, April 17^th, Pluto turns retrograde motion.  In its continued, albeit softer challenge to Radical Uranus, unfinished business still works itself out in the arenas where these two impact your chart.  With Pluto in Capricorn, big business, government, the established and traditional structures of our lives continue to be transformed.  Or unraveled.   This is not easy. So it is very helpful to remember that “life happens for you and not to you.”  You do have choices so take your pick: because how you approach life tremendously affects the outcome.  A positive or negative attitude, one of optimism or pessimism, faith or doubt.  Pluto now turns inward, grinding away at areas we need to unearth, bring to the light, and acknowledge.  Meanwhile, Uranus works from above ground, inciting change through lightning strikes and earthquakes (literally) or via life situations that zap and rattle us to the core.  Ch-ch-ch-change.

Assess your situation.  Because the very next day, on the New Moon in Aries, we are invited to break free, blaze a trail, launch fearlessly ahead.  GO FOR IT!  With Motivating Mars and Messenger Mercury conjoined in Taurus now, it is an excellent time to sow thoughts, ideas, projects, endeavors, partnerships, deals.  What do you want to grow?   This season?  Today, next month, this year?  As Mars-Mercury challenge Joyous Jupiter, do not take NO for an answer.  This trio calls for grit and perseverence.  Dig deep, plow ahead, stand your ground.  Be brave and bold.

Bolstering our thoughts (Mercury) and action (Mars) is the Sun as it enters practical, sensual,down to earth Taurus.  Let us now pause and praise The Earth.  Mother Earth, Mother Nature.  From her, all blessings flow.  Wednesday, April 22^nd is Earth Day.  Stop and ask:  how can you give back to Gaia, Mother Earth?  Replenish, restore, renew her?  Thank her for all she gives to you.   At the same time, the Moon and Venus in airy Geminii makes a flowing angle to the Lunar North Node in Libra.  Ideas, intelligence, wonder abound, allowing for maximum flexibility in relationships, whether personally, professionally, to Nature, to yourSELF.   Language and words are particularly strong this day due to the Mars-Mercury pair hitting a critical, super visible degree of Taurus.  The power of of words, what you read, hear and speak around April 21-23 cannot be underestimated.  When speaking, choose your words with utmost care as they will have a deeply lasting affect and impact now. 

Heading into the final days of April, the Sun (our will) aligns with Neptune to cleanse and clean how we aim our will.  It is an amazing time for anything involving music, spirituality, poetry and lyrics, meditation, higher consciousness activities, connecting with each other, to the Universal One Mind, and especially with Nature.  After the chaos and upheaval of March and the eclipse cycle, these are the loveliest of days.

March Madness: Pluto-Uranus final challenge plus New Moon Eclipse

Can you feel the surge?  March 2015 is not rolling in like a lamb.  More like a lion which will ROAR most of the month.  Especially mid-month.  No gentle spring is this.  The cosmic foot keeps pressing down on the accelerator with very little let up to slow us down except our own strident efforts to exercise patience, tolerance, caution and wisdom. 

Best approach to this month is a sharp sense of humor.   Generous Jupiter in Leo (which rules humor and entertainment) aligning with Radical Uranus in fiery Aries certainly helps us find new, unusual methods of dealing with the fierce energies at work.  We will need every measured tactic to meet the hands we are dealt.  March’s opening salvo finds Venus (relationships and money), Mars (our drive and energy) and change maker Uranus tightly conjoined in warrior Aries challenging Transformer Pluto.  The latter two are moving toward their final smack down on March 15th.   Power punch much?  Revolution?  We are simply jolted awake and into action.  Breakdowns and breakthroughs are the watchwords for March.  If you are in a relationship that is not functioning well (with lopsided power plays and struggles, addiction issues, etc) whether personally or on the job, the energies of March will see to it that change occurs.   Make every effort to flow with impending plot twists.  Prepare to stay a step or two ahead, or otherwise be caught in the one-down position perpetually responding to and playing catch up instead of directing and initiating life.

With Saturn now cycling through Truth Telling Sagittarius, making beautiful alliances to Venus, Mars and the Lunar South Node in pioneering Aries, expect no-holds bar honesty.   The more you resist hearing and following your True North, the reality of the situation you find yourself in, the more others’ will mirror truth and reality for you.  It is inescapable.   If you do not like what you see mirrored back to you, ask how you can change the reflection.  What can you do to alter the picture? Are you part of the problem or part of the solution?

Fess up and speak your truth.  For there is no time for evasion, lies or deceit now.  Nothing can be swept under the rug as the final challenge between Transformer Pluto and Radical Uranus happens on the Ides of March, no less!  Talk about cosmic humor poking fun at us.  WOW.   Since 2012 this duo has squared off, overturning the old and outworn in our lives and ushering in The New, heightening our awareness.  They ensure no stone is left unturned; that we are fully awakened to the realities of our situations. 

From the first week of the month when Messenger Mercury opposes Generous Jupiter, both at critical degrees, our very thoughts and words are in the spotlight and may be stiffly challenged.  So:  Say what you mean and mean what you say.   Only commit to something/someone if you can honor that commitment.  We have had significant warnings and signals pointing the way.  For those ignoring the signs, March will rattle to the core.   This month is the last stage, the final frontier to be broken through, destabilizing or destroying patterns, habits and relationships that have not functioned well or at all and/or served our true purpose or best interests.   The key to March is remembering that L-O-V-E is the reason behind this period of strife and upheaval.  Especially as we move deeper into the month of Pisces, the great unifier, self-love, family, brotherly, partnership, universal love, is our lesson.  To understand that we are ONE.  You as an individual are one with Source.  Separateness is an illusion.  And for those operating from a place of separation, or territorial “this is mine, that is yours” mentality, the road will be that much harder.   

Not that April will be any panacea.  But our cages won’t be rattled to the extent they are this month.  The explosive energy of the first week is ramped up by the powerful waxing Full Moon which occurs on Tuesday, March 5^th.  Fortunately, the Moon is in down-to-earth Virgo, helpfully aligning to Pluto in practical Capricorn.  The Full Moon opposes the Chiron-Sun-Neptune trio in Pisces highlighting that separateness or unity is our choice.  Neptune and Pisces rule illusion.  The bare bones analytical Virgo Full Moon cuts right through this illusion, showing us like never before what is real and what is not.  All illusion is shattered now and clarity of vision is yours for the asking.  Take your pick:  continue living with blinders on and face having them ripped off; or, if you have been seeking answers, doing the work, listening to and following your truth, solutions abound.  With Generous Jupiter making a gorgeous angle to Ingenious Uranus, creative breakthroughs are at hand.   The Moon-Pluto alliance in earth signs affords tremendous building block energy.  So hitch your wagon to your dreams, make a plan, apply elbow grease and plenty of ingenuity and go for it!  All the ingredients are there.   Pisces Sun says:  BELIEVE.

The Full Moon tees us up nicely for the second week of March when life really starts cooking.  Messenger Mercury moves into Pisces on March 13^th, slowly joining the Neptune, Sun and Chiron to emphasize the message of universal love and compassion.  The very next day, March 14^th, Saturn turns retrograde motion in Sagittarius, challenging both Neptune and Mercury.  The search for inner truth, your quest, really deepens now in earnest.  What is it you truly hunger for?  What will fulfill your soul?   Neptune and Pisces are the soul.   Plunge into their watery depths to find your answer.   If you allow just five minutes a day to tune in, ask:  what do you feel, what do you hear?  Pay attention to your body, the words of others, songs on the radio and signs (anything) shining light on the way.  It is make or break time.  Neptune is the dreamer while Saturn is the taskmaster.  Saturn in Sagittarius demands you do the work of following your truth (no matter what society, your partner, family, etc, say/think), so your dreams (Neptune) may manifest.

Again, the point is driven home by the forces that be, in this case during the second week comes the final challenge between Pluto and Uranus.  Pluto in Capricorn has been breaking down the old, established systems of our lives, grinding up what fails to serve us.  Meanwhile, Uranus keeps inciting our bravery and pionieering spirit to explore untried or unusual approaches, to journey where we have feared to go.  Now bolstered by the Venus-Mars duo in Aries, plus helpful alignments to Jupiter and Saturn in fire signs, Uranus gets its way.  Finally.  “I’ve been telling you to get going, try a new ­­­­­­­­­_______ (fill in the blank); now, I won’t take no for an answer,” demands Uranus, mighty planetary change agent.  Remember, when you consistently resist to embrace your path, life (via Uranus) redirects you, forces your hand.  This is such a moment.   The proverbial "life-altering experience” is inevitably caused by Uranus when we are too far “off-path”.  It can happen on a dime, either by happy or unfortunate accidents/crises, which Uranus rules.  Surprise! is Uranus’ most effective tool…because if we were expecting change/upheaval, we human beings would do our level best to avoid it.  Right? Uranus is the Great Awakener.

Personally, I know where I was reluctant to follow my path, I was awakened/redirected.  And I know of many situations where this has occurred for others:  a high-powered advertising executive who survived a horrible car accident and turned into a yogini; a business woman who witnessed 911 from her office building in NYC who then moved to the West Coast and became a successful writer; a drug addict who became a wildly successful life coach inspiring legions of others.  And on and on.  For each of these stories, Uranus played an integral part.  Where has this happened for you?   None of us like the unexpected.  We are human and seek predictability and stability.  Yet those who accept that change is the only constant will find an easier road now.

A foot to stand on anchors us through the chaos and disruption of mid-March.  Venus (love and money) enters its home sign of Taurus on March 17^th offering stability and practical riches.  We will need every inch of ground we can get as only three days later the New Moon eclipse occurs at 29 degrees Pisces just hours before the Spring Equinox, issuing an emphatic call for unity, understanding, the brotherhood of man, clarity of vision, cleansing and healing.  This eclipse urges a strong release and purge, as Radical Uranus (change) tightly conjoins the Lunar South Node (release) and the will to do it (Sun/Moon in Pisces = cleansing and healing).  All New Moons offer us a clean slate, to begin again.   However, the combined energies of this New Moon Eclipse afford an exceptionally powerful clean slate and opportunity to emotionally (Moon) connect to ourselves, our family and loved ones, our neighbors and community; to see the humanity, the positive attributes in others; to believe and have faith in our talents and abilities as well as those we share this Earth with. 

Hours later the Sun enters Aries at a critical, attention-getting degree, ushering in Spring and a whole new cycle of growth.  As I write with five feet of snow outside of my office door, I know I will be more than ready for warmer temperatures and milder days.  A word of caution here:  eclipses come in pairs and the March 20^th eclipse is the first of two, the second of which falls on April 4^th.  The period between eclipses are notorious voids.  Best to start new endeavors after the April 4^th eclipse.   By the end of the month, both Messenger Mercury and Motivating Mars have changed signs on March 31^st.  Mercury joins the Sun in Aries as they move toward Uranus, creating radical vision, ideas and concepts for the future.  Meanwhile, Mars enters stable Taurus, joining Venus to keep our feet on the ground and apply our resources and talents on realistic paths.  It is truly a time to follow the words of radio host Kasey Casem: "Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars."

OF SPECIAL NOTE:

Please join me for a workshop I am leading on Saturday, March 28th from 1-4 pm at the Sanctuary for Yoga and Reiki in Watertown, MA:  Creativity, Moon Cycles and Self-Expression.   Come learn what drives your creativity, where creativity originates and how it unfolds.  Learn about your Moon sign and how it affects your ingenuity, receive a recommended reading list and crystal goodie bags, and much, much more!  $35 advance registration or $45 at the door.  To register or for more information, contact Hilary@hilaryharley.com.

Tests of Faith

February opens up three planets and asteroid Chiron in watery Pisces:  Venus (love and money), mystical Neptune, Motivating Mars and Healer Chiron.   Like no other water sign, Pisces calls us to pause and reflect.  So with Messenger Mercury in retrograde motion, the first ten days of the month may feel a bit murky as we sort through ourselves and our lives.   Nonetheless, retrograde Mercury complements Pisces nicely as it invites introspection, meditation, reflection…all of the re- words.  You know them!

With all this water enveloping us, let’s talk Pisces.   The final sign of the zodiac, it rules mysticism, music, dreams, universal love and consciousness, faith and the brotherhood of man.  On a good day.    In more difficult times, it may have us drowning our sorrows in drugs and alcohol, devouring any faith we ever possessed, surrendering to prisons or hospitals, or chained to overwhelming fear.  You see, Neptune and the sign it rules Pisces, represent the very pinnacle of humanity as well as the lowest of lows.  Why?  The Divine may be found in all of these, each of us, no matter what our human circumstance.

Cycling through Pisces, Vibrant Venus is exalted in this sign, casting a Mother Theresa effect on her motions, especially with her conjunction to Neptune during the first week of the month.  This pair lends a Universal Love to our relationships, those we already know and those we want to know better, including how we treat ourselves.  Since Neptune is mystical, often stirring confusion in its wake, it can cause tremendous blind spots wherever it is found in a chart.    No one likes to feel s/he is unware; yet in certain segments of our lives, we undoubtedly are.    Neptune prompts the question, “How did I not see that before?”  When the person/situation/your SELF have been there for so long, we can feel like a failure for not realizing or understanding earlier.   Don’t.  Instead, think of it this way:  Neptune leaves room for growth and development.  Eventually, over time, people, situations, life events and self-understanding become clear.  Clarity, pristine insight.  That is the highest intention of Neptune.  Consider it a journey.

Prodding us toward such clarity, Motivating Mars and Healer Chiron are half way through Pisces during the first week of February.   Pay attention, this pair says, focus on soul matters, where and what needs clarifying, understanding and healing.  They call us to bear witness to where we have strayed from our path.   Highlighting where have let others, ourselves, down, been less than our best selves, best friends, spouses, parents, co-workers, Mars-Chiron prompts a course correction.  In Pisces, this duo says:  swallow your pride and reach across the table.  Do what must be done to save the friendship, business, relationship, marriage, yourself.   Say the words, as hard as they might be to utter, even if you have to write them down and rehearse.  Or, draft a letter to the loved one, the co-worker.  Write affirmations FOR yourself and stick them on the bathroom mirror where you can’t miss them every day.   Conversely, open up to others trying to reach out to you:  listen, focus, hear what someone is saying, what it is they really want for you (not from you):  good health and well-being, a perspective you might not have considered, lending a hand financially, practically, or otherwise…  Here’s a clue:  let them.  We are one, a brother and sisterhood of humanity.  Each of us carrying the other along.

For the better part of February, helping us reach out to others and reach across ourselves, Messenger Mercury is cycling through ingenious, detached, and inventive Aquarius.  At the first week of the month, Mercury makes a helpful angle to Saturn in fiery Sagittarius, jump starting new ideas, adventures in living, how we approach events and situations, people, even our thinking.  Remember:  it takes 60 days to establish a new habit or routine.  No time like the present!  This angle assures us if we but try, we can succeed.  Sagittarius is about QUESTS.  Where do you need to journey?  To evolve, grow and develop into the person you are intended to become?  This involves faith.  Journeys, whether inward or external, require exactly that:  faith in ourselves to examine what is “under the hood”, ie, why you are the way you are and operate (think/make choices) as you do; conversely, in external quests, we push forward often against extreme odds, naysayers and haters, lack of money, etc.

This brings us to the grand planetary challenge for 2015:   Neptune in Pisces squaring (facing off with) Saturn in Sagittarius.  Simply said, we face big tests of faith.  The challenge has been brewing for some time already at the end of 2014.  We have seen it play out in our individual lives and on a global scale via Islamic terrorists wedded to extreme forms of faith they insist on spreading worldwide.    So let’s take this challenge apart for a look at the mechanics to better understand how it affects you.  First, Neptune is the soul.  As it cycles through its home sign Pisces, it clarifies and discerns precisely what our soul needs.  Taskmaster Saturn, on the other hand in adventurous, spiritual Sagittarius is on a search for TRUTH.   These two planets ask us now:  “Can you handle the truth?”    This question opens us to even more searching:  “What will you do when you find the truth?”  Will you recognize when truth crosses your path?  Since Neptune can be a major blind spot, look for what you might be missing, missing parts, words, pieces to the puzzle.  Be wary of blind faith in someone/something.

At play here are some BIG quests for answers.  Consider how these figure in your life currently:  What do you believe?  What are your dreams vs. reality.  How are you making your dreams a reality?  Are you escaping (Neptune) your reality/responsibility (Saturn)?   What can you get away with?  Are you trying to get something for yourself only or are you sharing/serving others?  How do you give back to your fellow man?  Matters of faith vs. doubt.  Denial, deferral, and delusion (Neptune/Pisces) vs. right action, honor, doing the right thing (Saturn); How is your current/established belief system or tradition of faith challenged?

These are very weighty questions indeed.

In their most difficult forms, Saturnian fear and Neptune’s blind spot can paralyze us.  Try thinking of their efforts as catalysts:  to create better versions of ourselves, lives, and world.  Understand that it is necessary to stop, take stock, assess what and who we are (beliefs) and where we are going from here.   If nothing else, the dance between Saturn and Neptune throughout 2015 breaks open this blind spot causing us to question the arenas of our lives in which we and others are operating.   Look to see what arena this is for you:  work, profession, marriage, friendships, goals, physical body, values, thoughts/speech, home/family, creativity/art, money/money/money, and spirituality.

 In ancient astrology, Joyful Jupiter ruled both Sagittarius and Pisces and they still share some common threads, that of spirit, higher consciousness and faith.  On the Full Moon of February 3^rd, Jupiter affords a grand opportunity for leaps of faith and belief in ourselves, as it conjoins the Full Moon in creative, risk-taking Leo at a highly attention getting degree.  Do you have something to celebrate?  This is THE day!  The spotlight is uber bright today, definitely not for the shy and retiring types.  So get out there and let yourself SING!  Emotionally, we are fearless, brazenly hopeful with the courage of lions.  YES YOU CAN is the mantra now.  Believe in yourself says this Full Moon.

Supporting this can-do spirit of Brand New, Brave New World, is Joyful Jupiter forming an incredibly helpful angle to Radical Uranus.  All month long, Jupiter in Leo bears abundant creativity, romance, athleticism, opportunity for risk-taking to stretch ourselves, all magnified by inventive Uranus in pioneering Aries inciting us to blaze new trails.  Yes, we are being waaaay pushed out of our comfort zones there is no doubt.   But is there anything worse than stagnation and withering lack of growth?  Uranus prods us to go where no man has gone before (YES, it really IS OK, you have permission), jump into new businesses and creative ventures, relationships, unheard of methods to achieve your goal, to try, try, try anew even where you have experienced rejection or failure before.  The slate is clean.  The magnanimous generosity of this pairing cannot be overstated.  Truly, we feel the entire Universe supporting our efforts now.

By the 11^th, Messenger Mercury turns direct motion, still making a beneficial angle to Saturn in Sagittarius.  Exalted in Aquarius, Mercury’s helpful alignment to Saturn finds ingenious, untried methods to respond to life.  Ask:  what path haven’t you explored yet?  Jupiter-Uranus breaks us out of our ruts and routines.  Shows us how to best apply our imagination.  If nothing else, Aquarian Mercury is wildly imaginative, and human beings are blessed with this gift like no other creature on earth.  Think:  Thomas Edison, famous Aquarian.  Expect breakthroughs now.  With Mercury direct for the next three months, proceed with plans, contracts, signing key documents, launching initiatives and projects.  Mid-month also finds an interesting pairing:  Nurturing Ceres (Mom Persephone from Greek Mythology) coupled with Transformer Pluto (god of the underworld), from February 12-16.  Both challenge Uranus to awaken us; so do not be surprised if you are caught off guard, broken open emotionally, or perhaps dragged into the underworld of your own making for a cold, hard look at the seamier parts of your life. 

The New Moon in Pisces on February 18 at 00 degrees Pisces conjoined to Neptune prompts either complete confusion and disillusionment (the “How did I get here, how did this happen to me,” syndrome) or pristine clarity, pure AH-HA understanding, and rare, raw insights.  Either way, it is a great day for meditating on what you DO want to occur.  The next day, February 19^th, Mars enters fiery Aries as does Venus on the 20^th.     While these two gradually converge with the South Node of the Moon and Uranus, we are called to action, to begin new ventures and relationships, and most vitally to RELEASE old, outmoded ways of being, habits, shed people or practices that no longer serves you.   The Moon is thrown into the mix also on the 20^th, sparking strong emotions and a giant push to do something.  Aries is DO-ing energy, not BE-ing energy.  So this is not a “be” or “being” time.  With Messenger Mercury now direct, we are catalyzed forward.  Galvanized into activity, especially as all three planets, Mars (energy), Moon (emotion) and Venus (love/money) make a gorgeous angle to Saturn in Sagittarius.  Get going guys and gals!  Stand back and behold.  Surprise yourself! 

For so long, Uranus has been hanging out by itself in fiery Aries, trying to get the party started.  However, by month’s end, five planets are fully, firmly in fire signs:  Mars, Venus, Saturn, Jupiter and Uranus.  Feel the shift?  This energy is the harbinger of the blazing Spring to come.   Only one month away, Spring’s watch words are renewal and resurgence.   This Spring promises to be a full-on break-down-the-doors time. As the Sun passes by Neptune in the final week of February (24-28), tightly conjoining our Will with our Soul, both challenging Taskmaster Saturn, have faith.  Have faith my friends.  Believe and it shall be so.

OF SPECIAL NOTE:

Come get your Goddess on!   Please join me for a very special pre-Valentines Day celebration on Saturday, February 7, from 11 AM- 3 PM at The Sanctuary for Yoga and Reiki, 164 Galen Street, Watertown, MA.  Join me and two amazing healing practitioners, Susan Jenness and Cher Kore, for yoga, reiki and crystal healing sessions, aromatherapy, and astrology readings by yours truly.  $75 fee for hours of relaxation and healing!   Email me at:  hilary@hilaryharley.com to join us!  Only three spots are left. 

PRACTITIONER OF THE MONTH:

 Cara Russell of Hearts and Stars Healing.   I cannot recommend Cara highly enough!  She is a Spiritual Intuitive, Angel Messenger and Psychic Medium.  Her mission is to awaken people to their inner peace and wisdom so they may heal and shine their light.  Cara’s Angel readings are intended to empower individuals and illuminate their path by highlighting the knowledge and wisdom already residing within each of us.   “Everyone is capable of accessing this magnificence within …and using it!”  she says.   I have had several readings with Cara and she is incredibly accurate and offers a plethora of information and guidance.  To schedule a reading, contact Cara at:  heartsandstarshealing@gmail.com or visit her website:  www.heartsandstarshealing8.com.

Magical beginnings, magical month: Potential Unleashed 2015!

I’m not sure how many of us are more than happy to say good riddance to 2014 but I bet it is the overwhelming majority.  There is something to be said for doing all of the heavy, internal work required of us for the past two years while Saturn has cycled through intense Scorpio; however, the day to day living experience of getting through this work was grueling.  I know many days I felt I’d been put through a wringer and hung out to dry. In many cases, the losses and life altering circumstances have been profound.  Saturn in Scorpio was meant to change us on the deepest levels and in most cases we’ve had no choice.   As we lick our wounds, still learning the lessons in front of us, please remember the basis of each lesson is LOVE.  Often the hardest of these is self-love.  Once this is mastered, everything flows from there.  So now that Saturn has moved into adventurous and spirited Sagittarius, let’s point ourselves to the New Year with hope in our hearts.  Let’s say a collective BYE BYE to 2014:  all together now!

Except for a brief return to Scorpio in mid-2015, Saturn will be in Sagittarius through 2017.  Here, the cosmic taskmaster asks completely different questions and demands from us.   Where Saturn in Scorpio through us completely off course and dug up gnarly psychological wounds, Saturn in Sagittarius prompts us to ask why.  Do some deep, existential and philosophical pondering.  This does not have to be a chore.  In fact, look at this next two years as an adventure, a chance to explore, an opportunity to broaden your horizons.  Open and embrace the new.  Accept the different in yourself and others.  Remember:  we are one.  Each of us is a mirror to another.  So breathe. 

Sagittarius rules higher learning, travel, adventure, spirituality and long journeys.  The beginning of 2015 marks the next two years of wandering to the mountain tops of our lives, whether actually or metaphorically.   Travel to the mountain top, see what you can see, understand and learn, then decide what is important to carry on with for the rest of your days.

Sagittarius is a fire sign.  For a long while, radical Uranus has been hanging out all by itself in fiery Aries.  Then last summer it was joined by Jupiter in another fire sign, Leo.  Now, with Saturn in the third fire sign, Sagittarius, fuel is added to this blaze to really get our lives roaring.  Feel the energy shift?  From heavy, dense, wet blanket internal energy to exciting, risk-taking, enticing and adventurous vibes.   So very, very different.  A brief note how this energy shift has already affected me:  For my entire life I have avoided gyms and aerobic/cardio exercise of any kind.  I’ve been a yoga/walking/low-impact kind of gal.  Then late last month, as Uranus turned direct motion and Saturn shifted into Sagittarius, I shocked myself, my family and everyone who knows me by waking up one day and signing up for a gym membership.  Guess what?  I love it.  Love the facility, the staff, my new routine, new world of women and community opening up to me.  Needless to say, I have so much more energy, feel healthier and wonder what on earth took me so long to do this!  What a brand new adventure and it is just around the corner…You see, you can travel to another world and barely leave your neighborhood!

Where do you feel the cosmic fire kindling new life in you?  What are you urged to create?  Where will you travel, search and soar?  What will you learn and bring back to share with others?  2015 promises to be so exciting!  Like stepping out on a brand new stage of life.  As January begins, a powerful combination is at play:  the Sun (our will) is tightly conjoined with Pluto (transformation) while Messenger Mercury and Venus (love and money) travel together all in uber practical Capricorn.   The latter pair make an incredibly harmonious angle to the Moon in earthy Taurus, where she is exalted, meaning, in her dream home.  These energies create a magical quality enabling us to apply our will and desires, our thoughts and our hearts to manifest what we want.   Truly this year, with focused attention and continuous effort, what you sow and plant, so shall you reap.   If ever there was a New Year’s Day to make realistic, healthful and productive resolutions that will stick¸ this January 1^st is it! 

Only two days later on the 3^rd, planet of love and money, Venus, enters inventive Aquarius, prompting an interest in unusual people, relationships and opportunities to earn that we ordinarily would not consider.  Step out of yourself.  Go on that date, sign up for a trial membership of anything, explore alternative job prospects.  What have you got to lose?  Nothing.  What do you gain?  Experience.  Who knows what might come of it?  Two days later:  Mercury joins Venus in Aquarius where it is exalted, meaning, offers us our highest expression, keenest insights, break through ideas.  Coupled with Venus now, this pair creates a beneficial angle to Saturn in Sagittarius.  Aim your arrow high.  The inventive, out of the box, outre, and avant garde are completely available to you now, and, have it all over the ordinary, hum-drum, run-of-the-millers.    Under the bright light of the Full Moon on January 4^th, we step out.  Do a different dance.  Let it all hang out.  Let it all go.  Be groovy.  Be bold.  Tell a different tale now.  Sing another song. 

Like an engine driving the wheels of ingenuity, the Sun-Pluto combo are smack in the middle of Saturn and Mercury-Venus, demanding how.  So you have all these brilliant (and I mean brilliant) ideas.  How are you going to make it/them work, apply the genius, roll it out for your use or better still, make money from it?  Consider:  throughout this month and in fact all of 2015, Saturn challenges Neptune.  At odds with each other, this energy begs us to dream and dream BIG.  But the Sun-Pluto mid point between Saturn-Mercury/Venus insists we pull our dreams into realistic vision.  We can do anything we desire and dream up…but how?   Sun-Pluto in Capricorn says we must think through what we want to accomplish, create an action plan.  A step by step guide.  What is too much or too little?  It’s great to be excited for the future and all there is to do.  Just be sure to enlist help (and the right kind…you know what I mean:  not the energy-draining, vampire sucking kind but rather, the down-to-earth, get your hands dirty kind) to get the job done.  Otherwise it is easy to be overwhelmed or lost in the details.

On the 12^th, Mars enters watery Pisces adding a visionary lens to this wildly creative mix.  While fiery Mars is not typically at its best in sensitive Pisces, there are significant benefits as it cycles through this reflective sign.  Conjoined to Neptune and challenging Saturn in Sagittarius, motivating Mars heightens our dreams (day and night), meditations, intuition and sets the stage for Mercury to turn retrograde the following week.  Music, prayer, writing, channeling ideas flow abundantly now and/or are deeply soothing.  Be very careful not to dismiss the signs and messages, both seen and heard and often delivered through other people including loved ones, that are given to you now.  Pay attention.  Be open to receiving, hearing, following through.  What are you invited to hear and know?   How can you apply what you learn and encounter to grow, manifest your desires?

This same day, the Moon joins the north node in Libra (our directional calling) to form a gorgeous angle to the Mercury-Venus duo.  Emotionally connect to your magic, your ideas calling you forward.  Creativity unleashes this week.  WOW.  Remember, each of us is essentially and vitally creative.  We all offer creative ideas, products and solutions that enhance our world.  Someone once said to me that she didn’t think of herself as creative because she didn’t paint or draw.   Her remark is a very limited vision of what creativity is.  Creativity is not limited to artists.  Athletes, business and technology people, spiritualists, not-for-profit workers and volunteers bring critical and essential skills and know-how to our lives every day.  Where do you creatively contribute to life and how can you build, expand and develop your potential in 2015 and beyond?  For if there is one word for 2015, it is expansion.

The planetary combinations at mid-month are ripe and rife with limitless direction.  Take advantage!   The Sun enters Aquarius on January 20^th, the same day as the New Moon.  Because Mercury turns retrograde motion the very next day, this New Moon is especially strong for meditating, prayer, writing, creativity of any kind, and setting intentions.  Meditate on what you DO want, not what you do not want.  Yoginis of all varieties will love this period of time.   Now in the dead of winter, we can settle in for a long winter’s nap.  Embrace all of the retrograde RE words:  Reflect, Review, Renew, Restore, etc.  Imagine, dream and vision forward.  Channeling and intuiting can be particularly mind blowing and/or deeply healing now at a minimum, especially as Mars joins wounded healer Chiron in Pisces during the 3^rd week of the month, making a greatly helpful angle to Pluto.  Resolution to deep-seeded wounds or matters are available now.

And when Messenger Mercury reaches a critical degree of Aquarius on January 25^th forming an extremely beneficial angle to Radical Uranus, the Lunar Nodes and the Moon, you may have lift-off.  Emotional, intellectual and creative barriers and blocks be gone.  Stand back and behold.  Expect surprise.  The shocking.  The key insight or phrase you’ve needed to hear, believe, understand and digest, answers long-searched for, breaks through now.  GET IT?

Two days later on January 27^th, Venus enters Pisces where she is exalted.  The Mother Theresa effect I call this.  The magnificent giver of Divine Love.  As Venus slowly joins Neptune, Mars and Chiron in Pisces for the remainder of January, we are invited to think of others as much as ourselves, to envision our ideal world, what it looks like and how we may go about creating that ideal.  Your thoughts create your actions.  Create with the highest intentions possible.