Astrology Forecast for Creatives | Week of February 29th - something's gotta go, something needs a boundary

exodus by jon jacobsen

First, Monday is Leap Day so we get a BONUS day this year - this is like the extra hour we get at daylight saving's time multiplied by twenty four. Plus it's nicer to think of it this way rather than just Monday!

(we just need to get the calendar makers to add it to the end of July) 

This is a busy week. Under-schedule because in the run up to the eclipses we can expect the unexpected now.

The Moons are productive all week with no serious void moons during working hours other than late Monday afternoon. Today the Moon is in Scorpio - especially good energy for Scorpio ruled stuff - taxes, loans, other people's money, etc - reproductive issues, sex, death. From late Monday until Wednesday the Moon is in Sagittarius - expansion, what we believe in, adventure, what is foreign, education, legal stuff is highlighted. Early Thursday the Moon moves into Capricorn until early Saturday - grow up, do the work, be responsible, get serious, authority figures are in the mix, our own authority is required here.

Lots of Pisces (weepy/sleepy/letting go) energy. We are building toward eclipse season and Thursday is an eclipse trigger day for March 8-9th's total Solar Eclipse (more on this later) - know that whatever this eclipse energy is working with in our lives - the doors are open for change RIGHT NOW.

The Pisces eclipse pushes us to take a hard look at unhealthy beliefs and habits. The Sun and Moon are on the South Node of what we are releasing.  

Something's gotta go now. Something needs a boundary.

Later in the week, Mars (in Scorpio and walking a path he will walk two more times over the next few months) squares Mercury at the very end of Aquarius. The same day this is exact (Saturday) they both change signs (Mars into Sagittarius and Mercury into Pisces). Planets in the last degrees of any sign are particularly strong and Aquarius and Scorpio are particularly fixed and hard headed.

Squares denote struggle, tension and frustration. We have our mind (Mercury) not aligned with our actions (Mars). We may be pressured to make a decision and take action. We could say one thing and do another. Remember, actions (Mars) we take now matter because we are not finished with them. With Mars in the shadow of his upcoming retrograde it's like we are visiting a space we will return to - so let's not trash the place. With Mars move into Sagittarius the same day there could be ethics or bigger picture stuff involved. With so much Pisces energy whatever the tension is - it could just fizzle out. It might be best to pull in until we're clear. This is great energy for a distracted car accident so it's best to be intentional with our actions and give ourselves time to think.

Also late in the week, the Sun (in Pisces) squares Saturn (in Sagittarius). This transit will trigger issues from the Neptune/Saturn square we are all working through now. Squares denote struggle, tension and frustration. There are obligations, rules and limits. For Pisces the dreamy sky is the limit and Saturn wants us to accept reality. Pluto in Capricorn is sextiling the Sun so there is an opportunity to connect with our true purpose here. The road blocks are real though.

We can see the Saturn/Neptune square playing out in the U.S. primary elections. Each party is choosing a Neptune candidate (dreams, imagination, maybe too much pie in the sky, outsider) or a Saturn candidate (structure, power, maybe too much of the same old thing, insider). The impact from our choices here will reverberate in our personal energies, too. Do we believe big, crazy change is possible? Or do we believe things have to change very slowly over time? There are no right or wrong answers with this. We truly do get to live in the world we believe we live in.
 
The first eclipse, next week, is at 18 degrees Pisces on the South Node (eclipses can take place on the South or North Nodes). This is a Full Solar Eclipse. Because the Sun and Moon are in the South Node of 'letting go' we will have a BIG release/ending in our Pisces house.

What house is 18 degrees Pisces in our natal chart? Also we can check our progressed chart for this same degree. Progressed charts are symbolic. They move our natal chart ahead one day for every year we are alive. Astrologers call these 'secondary progressions'. So, let's say you were born on October 10, 1980 - your chart this year would look like November 15, 1980 - 35 days for 35 years. Secondary progressions offer insight into the unfolding of our unique personalities over time. I noticed the year my Sun changed signs, our Sun will only change signs a couple times in our lifetimes using this method, life very suddenly required me to be a totally different person!

You can find your progressed chart at astro.com (extended charts - choose natal and progressed or natal, progressed and transits) - for the eclipse: find 18 degrees Pisces and see if your progressed chart has you dealing with a different Pisces house (than your natal chart) and if there are any planets in your progressed chart near 18 degrees. If you need help with this, just email me or leave a comment.

An eclipse can pull us in a whole new direction! Are we ready? (there is a sneak peak available - what was happening for you in the spring of 1997 and/or the spring of 1978? what is happening right now?)

xo all

Sun Conjunct Neptune in Pisces | illuminating a weakness?

ann 03 by muszka

This weekend the Sun moves into a comfy conjunction with Neptune - both moving through Pisces, along with the collective South Node of what we are releasing and joining the wounding/healing energy of Chiron.

The Nodes (North and South) are not actual celestial bodies like planets or stars. They’re the two points in space where the Moon’s orbit around the Earth crosses the ecliptic - the path the Sun appears to journey through the skies each year when viewed from Earth.

Unlike the planets, the nodes are always in retrograde motion, moving backwards through the zodiac. They spend about 18 months in each polarity set of signs - currently Virgo/Pisces since last November (you might remember when they were Libra/Aries and I was talking about flocks and not going it alone, ad nauseum!) - and it takes about 18 and a half years for the Nodes to make a complete journey through the zodiac.

With the South Node in Pisces we are, as a collective, working through letting go of negative Pisces themes - unrealistic dreams and fantasies, addictions, escape, lack of boundaries, self-sacrifice, victimhood and martyrdom.

With the Sun lighting up this area now, maybe some space where we are "unrealistic" or our "judgement is cloudy" or we have lost our "boundaries" or played the "victim" or "martyr" or been "untruthful" or tried to "escape" could be highlighted for us.

It's probably a space we have gone unconscious. A space of distraction. Maybe it's something we use to stay safe but it actually keeps us stuck over here while that thing life has been busy lining us up with is over there. Maybe it's just the way we've always done it and something now shows us why it doesn't work anymore.

To grow and change we need to be able to tolerate a certain amount of unreality, 'not knowing' and un-comfortableness. We just have to stand our ground with it now.

The first time we put on a new hat we feel like a fraud. It takes time for that hat to become "ours" and not just something we have perched on our head.

Glass half full - this aspect also offers up quite a bit of inspiration for those ready to dance with the muse ..... dreamy weekend ahead folks, watch your alcohol, drug and sugar intake, it will be very easy to overdo it now - xo all

more fruitful directions ....

apple by basistka

A void and waning Moon makes today a good day for practiced, routine work especially with whatever is winding down. Better to stay busy now. Not a good day for major purchases - the void Virgo moon would probably make whatever we buy less useful than we expected.

Mercury (communications, mental activities) aspects Saturn (hard work, structure) and Uranus (unexpected) this week. We could receive some communication that shakes our foundation or line up with ideas that allow us to break new ground.

We will roll with whatever we can't control here.

The way forward this year is our collective North Node in Virgo - taking care of the details, taking care of ourselves. Our natal Virgo house is expanding. Saturn is in Sagittarius this year. Our natal Sagittarius house is where our feet are being held to the fire. Pisces season brings our attention to what we have been ignoring or denying - the ways we undermine what we know we want. It also frees up our imagination.

Boundaries are thin now. Keep that in mind with anything we are connecting with.

We are heading into next month's eclipse season which will shift energy and allow BIG changes for everyone. The stuff that is leaving/finishing up now creates a space for the new stuff to find us.

Mercury is in Aquarius and ripe with new ideas. They are like the apples on a tree ready for harvest. With Venus in Aquarius, too, our heads (Mercury)and hearts (Venus) can work together here as we choose which apples to take home with us.

(I'd recommend a nice cameo apple with homemade almond butter - delish)

Letting go of what we’ve been hoping for may be cause for celebration now as we finally accept there are more fruitful directions to move in. xo all

FULL MOON in Virgo | Monday, February 22nd | the opposite of addiction is not sobriety, the opposite of addiction is CONNECTION

moon's bride II by prismes

Monday's Full Moon is the culmination of the September Solar Eclipse New Moon. Here is a post about that with some key dates and themes.

The Full Moon is a time of completion. It's the space in our breath when our lungs are full. We can't take in anymore. We have to exhale.

Our Sun is in Pisces and our Moon is in the opposite sign of Virgo. This is the polarity of bringing the sacred (Pisces) into the everyday (Virgo), melding our physical health (Virgo) with our spiritual health (Pisces) and seeing the forest (Pisces) and the trees (Virgo).

In Virgo, the "release" energy could mark the end of our efforts on a health matter, work situation, something with paperwork, employees, co-workers or maybe a pet (all sixth house, Virgo ruled). We've reached a pinnacle and we finally achieve our goal with something here (maybe for all that Virgo hard work!), something comes through or breaks out (ends our striving), wraps up or just ends.

Endings around Full Moons are not always permanent (although they often are) - they are always situations though that have simply run their course ... there isn't an action we can take, or right words we can speak, to hang on to the things that are leaving us now.

With this year's Saturn/Neptune squares we are being shown what stands in the way of, or the difference between - what we want and what we have or where we are and where we want to be. Some are scapegoating the 'other'. Some are seeing what happens when we avoid the dentist for five years. Some are seeing how this dream of what 'could be' is interfering with our appreciation of 'what is'. There are different and multiple storylines for all of us, but the bottom line theme of reality vs our dreams or escape routes being road blocked, addiction vs connection, is something we will/are all working through.

The Full Moon is a time of something being 'brought to light'. With the Virgo/Pisces polarity and the Saturn/Neptune square this could be something about the way we anesthetize ourselves or the way we 'avoid'. This could be something about "victim consciousness" or "savior consciousness". Situation(s) will arise for us to clearly see the way we create the world we are living in.

Things don't happen to us and then we react. It only looks like this if we are not paying attention. We create what is happening.

I'll tell you how this "savior" thing is playing out for me.

Yesterday I start planning a small trip, a weekend across country, to visit a sibling. I was on airbnb looking for a place to stay and noticed some entire houses for rent that did not cost much more than the studio apartments/rooms I was looking at earlier. So, I spend the next 3 hours online making plans. I start turning my small trip into a weekend vacation at the coast for my sister's whole family. Even though this is all outside my budget for this trip and no one has asked me to do this. I get a wake up call from her grown daughter who tells me the house on an island with the 15 minute ferry ride "sounds kind of limiting". I'm slightly piqued she isn't excited about the weekend plans I am making, but I cancel the house and book the studio apartment in town for myself.

(those ungrateful son of a b--------, I grumble to myself)

A few hours later my other sibling tells me about a personal situation he is going through and I start mentally obsessing (and yes, googling) over this clearly "unfixable" happening that is his story and that needs to resolve itself in its own time. I am wishing he had shared this with me sooner (he is only telling me now because I invited him on my small trip). He is not looking for me to fix anything. And yet, I put this weight on my shoulders like a cable knit sweater.

By last night, my right shoulder, which had been feeling pretty good, was throbbing. I sit down to write this post and look at the chart for this Full Moon and see very clearly the "savior" complex I use to keep myself separated from other people and create situations where I get to "lose" and where I get to "avoid" my own stuff. I see how this is playing out in my third house of siblings (where my natal Mercury, Virgo's ruler, calls home).

This is how Full Moons work. Now that I see it, I can't "unsee" it. It's the elephant in the room. I can coax the elephant back into her dusty, neglected corner by distracting her with a bag of peanuts or I can thank her for showing up and allow myself the uncomfortable gift of unraveling her presence and letting her go.

This is an important two week period as we begin the count down to the next New Moon, New Year, Eclipse Season!

I will do a full week post later today. We have a Virgo Moon on Monday and Tuesday, so get organized and be productive. Great energy for dealing with the details!

Get out and walk in tonight's Full Moon - what is ripe for release in your own life?

Here is a great little video "everything we know about addiction is wrong" - very applicable to the energies at play here. xo all

Sun into Pisces | keep it honest

oceanborn 1 by eirian

The Sun moved into Pisces last night - the mutable water sign of mystics, empaths, dreamers, poets, escape artists and addicts.

It's the final sign of the zodiac, the sign of consciousness. Although often pictured as fish, Pisces is best represented by the ocean itself. A symbol of life and healing - the space where one thing flows into the next, until there is no 'next thing'. When we are lost at sea, there are literally limitless options as to where we can go - all directions are available to us.

(which is hell for the indecisive but invigorating when we remember we are here for the adventure!) 

Pisceans have the ability to comprehend almost anything (the downside is the ability to easily hook into stuff that isn't real). Certainty is a temporary state of mind for Pisces. Even the truth can get a bit stretchy. For grounding and to stay in touch with the ethereal energies that continually beckon to them - they really need to meditate daily (research shows coloring activates the same brain areas) - we are all burning Pisces fuel now, and so, especially if we find ourselves distracted, unfocused and forgetful we can use meditation to free up the space we need to remain effective and centered.

Ruled by Neptune, Pisces is the space in our natal chart where we heal, avoid, wallow, dissolve or transcend boundaries. Since Neptune came home to Pisces in 2012, we have all been a little less clear about what is real. We now have the Sun, Neptune, the South Node and Ceres in Pisces. Think of meditation as a requirement for life on planet Earth now - also hydration!

My multi-generational childhood home 'contained' four Pisces. Of course Pisces energy cannot really be contained. It washed over all of us and blended us all together - for better or worse. Three generations of Plutonian women have married Pisces men (I didn't).

Maybe it's Piscean openness helping to break down the fierce emotional defenses that Scorpio energy tends to erect and Scorpio providing much needed stability for the often chaotic/uncentered Piscean temperament. I have to think that through more, but it makes sense.

Anyhoo, Pisces season usually allows the dream to come into focus ... or go down the drain. Either way it opens us up to the new astrological year that kicks off next month with Aries. I notice, for me, Neptune energy (Neptune rules Pisces) and Pisces season often feels like I have returned to square one with whatever I am dealing with. With the Sun in Pisces our ability to force things is not as powerful. The more we struggle to stay on course, the more we drift toward the rocks. This doesn't mean we give up or go back to bed - it just means the best course will be with the current now - saving our strength for when the energy is best for challenging the prevailing tides .....

xo all

VENUS and our handmade business | doing everything as beautifully as we can - part I

"we have no art. we simply do everything as beautifully as we can" .... balinese saying

venus by ryan bater

Venus is the invisible force of attraction. She rules beauty, love, women and art. She rules the signs of Libra and Taurus, our second house of values (everything money can buy that matters to us and everything money can't) and our seventh house of marriage and partnership.

Venus transits emphasize our connection to what we are in relationship with. We fall in love. We fall out of love. We question our worth as well as the value of the things, people and places we spend our energy and resources on. And she makes us aware of those resources. Venus transits show us what really matters to us. Not what we give lip service to, but what we really need.

When we make things for a living - we need those things to be attractive. In an aesthetic sense (remember the opposite of aesthetic is anesthetic and we don't want our handmade offerings to put anyone to sleep!) - and also in the sense of "having the ability to attract".

We increase our ability to attract when we honor Venus.

We all carry the Venus archetype. Our makings do, too. I have come to believe we are the emissaries of the work we put out into the world. Not the other way around. The work has sent us here. We are required to do something for, and with, the stirrings of our heart.

Environmentalist John Seed, channeling his Venus, and working to save the rain forests says if he thought he were just one man, just one Seed (how wonderful his name is Seed, huh?), the vast needs and seeming hopelessness of his work would "feel overwhelming". 

Instead he sees himself as "the part of the rain forest that has evolved into a man."

He doesn't see himself as laboring alone even when he is laboring alone. He connects to the work that has sent him here (his Venus - the thing he loves). It's that connection that allows his work (and ours) to attract what it needs for as long as it needs to exist.

How can we liberate our creative energy? What wants to be created through us?

First and always, remember the Venus energy we carry wants needs to be honored.

We honor Venus when we do everything as beautifully as we can. When we move art from the periphery to the very center of whatever we are doing. The act of creation is a spiritual act that worships Venus. Our grandmothers instinctively knew this because this is how they spent their days - they made bread, they made sweaters, they made friends with their neighbors, they made a life with what they had.

We honor Venus when we are joyfully partnered with the things, people and places we love. Venus isn't the girl who settles. Venus is the space in our chart where settling will never work for us.

The house and sign she calls home in our natal chart is an indication of what we need and find attractive as well as clues to our own powers of attraction.

For example Venus in Gemini needs a mental connection and variety while Venus in Cancer needs an emotional connection and commitment. These are non-negotiables.

Venus asks us to focus society on culture rather than economy. For artists who have turned themselves and their makings inside out in an effort to focus on business instead of art (and trusting the work they are here to do to attract what the work needs) - Venus asks, "if artists become business people, who will be left to be artists?".

And this isn't because Venus is above making money - Venus rules money! Venus knows money flows where our passion does, too. 

We honor Venus when we honor what we value. I am rethinking this. The things we truly value, we naturally honor - one of the ways we know what is really important to us is that it will be the thing we spend the most time on.

What will we pay more for? What do we hang carefully on the padded hanger and what do we drop carelessly on the floor? If our money is crumpled into balls in the bottom of our handbag, is it really something we value? If our partner is valuable to us why don't we do the small things we are perfectly capable of doing and know will make them happy?

Sometimes a Venus transit wakes us up to what we value by bringing us close to losing it.

The Buddhists say the way we do one thing is the way we do everything. Venus would entice us to do everything beautifully.

We honor Venus when we honor ourselves. We honor Venus with simple things like long baths we don't have time for and complicated things like accepting the image of ourselves as "artists". We honor Venus with leisure time and yes, even what we might call "waste". If I didn't give myself the gift of a few hours every Friday night to play in my cluttered studio, I think I'd go mad.

Venus entices us to take another look at what we have blindly called "luxuries" and embrace them as necessities.

Venus is an inner planet and always connected (within 48 degrees) to our Sun (ego). She can drag us into vanity and self-possession turning love into manipulation and have us collecting chalk marks on our bed posts if we carry her into dysfunction. In her highest form though she balances out the masculine energy we carry - she literally soothes the savage breast. She brings us to peace.

I am an artist (and yes, I didn't always feel comfortable with this word and had to grow into using it!).

I am an Aquarius (the rebel, genius, criminal energy) Sun with a stellium (four planets) in Aquarius, and the questions I most naturally ask myself with my work are "is this different?",  "is this humane and sustainable?". My Venus (in my second house of values) asks "is this beautiful?", "can I make money with this?". My Venus (in Sagittarius) asks "will this make people happy?" "will this attract enough people to be worth bringing to market?", "how do I get this to the people who will love it?".

These are not great and noble questions, but simply the way my mind quickly works and I can answer them in about five seconds with anything I am thinking about doing. Sometimes a negative answer will stop me in my tracks. Other times, like with my astrology posts on this blog, my passion for the material is strong enough that nothing can stop me .... and I thank Venus. :)

Here is a Venus ritual from the amazing astrologer Caroline Casey (if you read the wonderful book Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, you might remember she referenced Caroline when she talked about 'trickster' energy, but she called Caroline a 'radio personality' - maybe she didn't want to use the term 'astrologer' in her book - ack!):

1. It’s best to perform this ritual on a Friday - which is Venus’ day. You’ll need a round piece of bread, a dinner roll will work. Make a hole in the bread and put a nickel or five pennies inside (the number five is sacred to Venus, Friday is 5th day of the week).
2. On a small piece of paper, clearly state your desire. Fold this paper and put it into the bread, on top of your nickel. Then pour a little honey on top to sweeten the deal!
3. Finally, place a small candle in the hole (bigger than a birthday candle, but smaller than a taper, Casey says yellow. I have used green). 
4. As the candle is burning, do something to honor Venus - take a bath, bake a cake and eat it, etc. Do something that makes you feel beautiful, prosperous and happy. 
5. When the candle is completely burned down, so that only the melted wax is on the bread, go to a stream or a river, but not salt water like the ocean. Toss this now ritually potent (and fully bio-degradable!) bread into the water, saying a prayer, poem, etc.
6. Venus energy will respond to our desires. She might fulfill our dreams in amazing ways. Or she might play the trickster, revealing a blind spot that still stands in the way of us attracting what we need.

Note - rituals are powerful and effective and carry the energy of all the previous rituals prepared in the same way. If you decide to do this one - use care and respect.

In Part II we will look at Venus in our natal and business charts!

Have a nice weekend! Long void Moon today so a good day for practiced, productive work. Expect glitches with anything out of the ordinary. Challenges now will highlight our comfort zone in some way - upsets, power plays, excitement, dealings with what and who is foreign to us, could disrupt and/or empower our need for emotional and/or home security. The Sun moves into Pisces - more on that next week!

xo all

Venus in Aquarius | our values shift

friends by x---blackstars

The stuff we value (love, money, what money can buy and what it can't) can morph now as Venus follows Mercury into Aquarius.

(that odd thing we couldn't get out of our head now wiggles its way into our heart)

We can attract and be attracted to something outside our comfort zone, not easily available or what is on the edge of what is acceptable.

Last month we combed our hair - maybe this month we comb it into a style that is different.

And at the least we will be drawn to those who do. 

Saturn (in Sagittarius) is opposed to our Gemini Moon today, so whatever is happening now could involve legal, educational, travel, political, wedding or media (ninth house Sag ruled stuff).

We have the fighting siblings exact today (Eris/Mars) - battle of equal and opposing energy. And we have a female energy trying to soothe things and it probably won't work. Sigh.

I'll tell you how this story is playing out for me.

There is a customer who owes hubs a lot of money. This doesn't happen often but it does happen a couple times a year. Usually we sit on this kind of thing for a bit. Usually we eventually get paid. Once in a while we don't. We've been sitting now for four months.

I'm seeing an attorney today (a female attorney actually). I usher in Venus in Aquarius - the clear headed woman who can take a detached approach to the situation - even while I can see astrologically this will not be a quick or certain fix.

Tomorrow, Mars (action, initiative, war) begins the path he will retrace two more times during his upcoming retrograde so I am going into this knowing I might be dealing with this situation for months. Being someone who prefers the path of least resistance, but also someone who prefers to be paid for services rendered and also someone who doesn't sleep well when dealing with crap like this - I am determined that putting the situation in the hands of someone else is the best way to handle this.

Under normal circumstances I would be that detached female energy (Aquarius Sun but with Venus in my 2nd house of love and money, not so easy to detach myself in these areas), but this time feel it best for my peace of mind and physical health to bring in a surrogate (since I see the potential for something lengthy to be unfolding here). I am valuing my peace of mind and health over the money we will pay for outside help.

(which probably sounds like common sense to most people anyway, but I am not so certain the outside help will change the eventual outcome here - I am certain though that changing the way I normally handle things, will change me, and this, the evolution thing, is the entire point of life on planet Earth after all)

This is one of the best uses of astrology - seeing enough of what's ahead to tweak the picture a bit.

Another great day for production and communication!

xo all

Astrology Forecast for Creatives | Week of February 15th Part I - a strange and unusual attraction

c-i-s-m- by nylon juvenile

This week we are in the waxing (growing) Moon phase without having Mercury covering old ground - this is great energy to get stuff done and move ahead with our plans.

The Moon goes into Gemini early MONDAY morning. This supports communications, agreements, sales and talks - we can get the ball rolling now. Mercury is in Aquarius so be sure we are writing down our innovative ideas - their pace will be fast and furious and they can fly out of our heads as quickly as they fly in!

Mars in Scorpio is sextiling the North Node in Virgo and trining the South Node in Pisces (22 degrees Virgo and Pisces).

The South Node is the going bye-bye stuff we are releasing. Trines take the brakes off and Mars in Scorpio could help the ending be quick and painless by focusing us on that North Node sextile (ie the opportunity and in Virgo - our path of service).

This is a sextile between negative elements (yin) - Earth and Water - so we will need to take action to create the opportunity (as opposed to it falling in our lap, although it can certainly have been created by our past actions).

The bottom line with this energy - there is no stopping the stuff that is leaving (our work with it is finished) BUT there is a BIG old opportunity somewhere if we just change the direction we are looking. Take action on the new (and your Virgo house - 22 degrees).

Take business cards, introduce yourself, make that call.

Mars is entering his shadow later this week so whatever we start then we will be working with (our natal Scorpio 23 degrees thru Sagittarius 8 degrees) until August. 

(this will also re-visit the Saturn in Scorpio transit of 2012 thru 2015- we'll deal with it - we are older and wiser now!)

If we have something we can wrap up now so we are not dragging it through the spring and summer with us, wrap it up. Pay attention to what starts this week and know whatever it is, it will be a process.

Remember the energy now can make us unusually effective so let's be sure we are focused in the right direction - we don't want to get what we think we want and then realize we don't really want it.

On TUESDAY the communicative Gemini Moon continues - let's not get overly chatty now or let our minds wander all over the place. Venus makes her move into future-oriented Aquarius. Aquarian Suns and ascendants get more attractive (good time for a haircut or makeover Aquarius!). We are all more able to attract what we want by being more detached from the outcome, more humanitarian - more out of the box. Think rebel, genius, criminal here!

Venus rules love, our relationships, money, our values, women and beauty. The way we work with all these things will benefit from Aquarian's ability to consider new perspectives. Think re-invention. We will all be attracted to the strange and unusual now - which can be a good or not so good thing - just keep this in mind.

There is the potential for some melt-down sibling (equals) rivalry type stuff this week (we'll see this play out politically) - use Aquarius to keep a cool head. This is an old story. This will require some time - some things can't just be fixed.

Melt downs need to melt (and it's still pretty cold outside).  

Keep in mind February and early March, in many ways, is the calm before the storm. When we are tired we should rest. When we are inspired (and we will be!) we should move. Get organized and get into a healthy, balanced routine

(this year of Jupiter in Virgo - ruling our daily habits - can truly aid us in sticking with the stuff we start, especially when it comes to our health and work habits)

 - next month this t-square will strengthen and we will be very, very busy and it won't let up until the end of summer - so get the plans and structures in place now to stay healthy and organized when however this will play out for you personally hits the fan!

Back later with the rest of the week. xo all

Mercury Covering New Ground In Aquarius | decision time

attitude by ntscha

Mercury moved into Aquarius on January 1st, but almost immediately stationed and retrograded back into Capricorn where he retraced his December steps. Then a couple weeks ago he stationed again and started moving forward, yes, retracing those same steps for the 3rd time (two steps forward, one step back). It is only this weekend that he actually starts covering new territory!

We will notice.

We can make decisions now regarding our goals, career, authority and responsibility issues (and your Capricorn natal house issues!). We've been going back and forth over this stuff for weeks. We know everything we need to know. Now we just have to decide. With choices and connections consciously made, there is no need for regret no matter the outcome. This is long term planning decisions and clarity on the rules we will have to play by to get what we want. If we don't get clarity right out of the gates, I can't imagine we won't be clear by the Full Moon on the 22nd.

With that energy behind us, Aquarius in Mercury (communication, information) will focus us on something new and freeing and maybe concerning the group. Expect news and invitations to offer us opportunities to work with this energy.

Aquarian energy is fixed and detached. Let's take a step back and look at the whole picture before firing off an email or communication now. Let's not take things personally. This transit supports our decisions (which might be rather inflexible now) as long as we can detach from our happiness depending on a specific outcome.

Freedom loving Aquarian energy does not work well when entangled ie caught up in deluded beliefs, reckless actions or a compulsion to rewrite history or control the future.

(and yes most Aquarius suns are major control freaks!)

With Aquarian detachment we can recognize what is not ours and not take it on.

Sometimes other people's problems are not ours to solve. Sometimes challenging/bad things happen to us that are not our responsibility. Simply encountering obstacles does not mean it is our job to remove them. Making progress is not the same as removing obstacles - sometimes we can shift, dis-entangled, and keep going.

It's time to put the whole January shit show (pardon my French) behind us and move on. If we haven't solved it by now, it's probably not our job anyway ....

Mars Sextile Jupiter - jump on THIS

jump by poop-art

We have Jupiter

(the planet of expansion, vitality, confidence and faith - all the stuff that brings us good luck if we were to believe in such things - and I do, actually)

cozying up to the North Node of our collective fate/future/destiny this month.

This is happening in the un-cozyest (and yes, since this isn't really a word I can spell it like this) of signs - detail oriented Virgo - where Jupiter isn't super um ... well, cozy. But that's ok. Sometimes cozy is over-rated. Sometimes attention to the details is what makes life cozy actually. And yes, when I say sometimes I mean now.

This transit is helping us line up with our best possible future.

It's like we are at the train station and there's a train leaving for Newark and a train leaving for Hawaii and every thought we think, every decision we make, every action we take, is moving us, step by step, into one of these station lines ... and right now, this moment, we are still in the space where we can go either way. We haven't bought the ticket yet.

There will come a time when, ticket in hand, we will just have to get on our train (dance with the one who brung us so to speak - and yes, same rule applies to "brung" as "uncoziest") and venture forward to Hawaii .... or Newark.

(and I live in New Jersey and it's snowing and you know which line I want to be in)

Of course, things aren't really this dire, because there are unlimited trains for every destination between these two places and there will be opportunities later to hop trains, although that can be dicey, we don't want to lose a leg or anything. You can see what I mean with this. We want to be moving toward the right line now.

As I write this, the planet Mars (drive, initiative, action, will, courage) is building toward a sextile (supportive opportunity) with Jupiter. This aspect is exact on Sunday but will be active all this week and next.

The actions we take during this Mars sextile Jupiter transit can have a bigger impact on our life than the actions we take at other times. Being that Jupiter is well, Jupiter after all, and most especially because he is hanging out with the North Node. Doors that open now won't lead us into a broom closet. Doors that open now will lead us to opportunities for learning and growth and, dare I say - happiness. 

We need to jump on this. We will probably need to pull that door open ourselves. If we are sitting around watching Walking Dead marathons (yes, I know we have to get caught up for the new season) we could miss this. With masculine Mars energy we have to take the initiative. We have to be a warrior. Mars isn't Venus where we attract what we want. Mars has to go and get it.

Now remember this is coming through our Virgo house (check your natal chart) and if you are a Virgo rising (ascendant) we are talking about your whole life and if you are a Virgo Sun we are talking about what fuels your whole life, so the same thing basically.

This isn't "out of the blue" stuff. Mars isn't Uranus. This is us taking action on our dreams and that action (think like a Virgo here - what needs to be done? and how can we do it well?) getting us lined up where we need to be to get what we want. Mars is the energy that gets us what we want. Virgo is the way/space we make this happen. Jupiter is the faith in ourselves and our dreams that lines us up with our "good luck".

Those with natal (and progressed) planets and points between 18 and 24 degrees of earth signs (Taurus, Capricorn, Virgo) or water signs (Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces) will be most directly affected but the energy is available to all of us to make an impact on our future now.

The Moon is waxing (growing). Mars is in Scorpio so we know what we want. Mercury is out of his shadow on Sunday, too. And Mercury and Venus are moving into forward thinking and forward moving Aquarius.

How do we want our future to look? What steps can we take, right now, to make that future happen?!

xo all

Note - the fly in the ointment and you know there is always a fly in there no matter how carefully and quickly we close the damn door - is that although sextiles are supportive they can sometimes seem to bring unwelcome situations - it's really stuff we are already lined up with so closely there is no getting out of the way. When this is the case though whatever happens is something we will be able to move through quicker and easier than we anticipated.

Astrology Forecast for Creatives | Monday, February 8th | a new view of what drives us ... and makes us angry

"so I stopped talking about it. there's no need to talk because the truth of what one says lies in what one does." ... bernard schlink - the reader

alone by zhoya

I didn't get the chance to do a weekly post yesterday, so we'll try a few dailys and see how that goes.

We begin this week with a New Moon in Aquarius. This is the time of the month when the Sun and Moon are joined together at the same degree of the same sign. As always New Moons are excellent times to plant seeds with our intentions - these seeds will ripen by the Aquarius Full Moon in August.

See my post about the New Moon.

The focus here will be on our flock, the causes we care about and how free we are to do the things we want to do... also your natal Aquarius house (19 degrees).

New Moons and particularly the two weeks that follow them are initiatory energy.

Stuff starts.

Of course, for stuff to start, other stuff has to end.

The energy here is supporting the fresh start, so a focus on that part (which can be challenging depending on just what is ending and how invested we are in keeping it intact) moves us forward.

What house holds 19 degrees Aquarius in your natal and progressed charts?

In the angular houses, New Moons work more obviously. They call us to action - these are houses 1,4,7 and 10.

Houses 2,5,8 and 11 are our succedent houses (they succeed, ie follow, the angular houses). They stabilize. A New Moon here will require us to work a little harder and look a little closer to identify the New Moon's opportunity. It's there.

Cadent houses are houses 3,6,9 and 12. A New Moon here requires an adjustment. We are often required to learn something. Preceding the angular houses - this is the thought before we take action.

This New Moon has a wonderful sextile (opportunity) to Uranus (in Aries). This is the 'new thing' that will require some action on our part. It looks good.

Mars is a power player at this New Moon.

The Moon is square Mars, so is the Sun. Squares present tension and frustration. Mars is in powerful Scorpio where he is co-ruler. Mars indicates anger, motivation or drive being activated. With the Sun and Moon in egalitarian Aquarius, tension could come if someone (or we) tries to rule instead of cooperate.

The things we get angry at now will have a higher message for us.

When we get pissed off - and we will - we'll think "ooh, the Sun is showing me my unhealed Mars".

(animals, nature and water are great healers for Mars tension and anger, also EFT - see Cheryl Richardson's video here and most healing of all, by rebuilding what we have destroyed)

With Aquarius we are asked to take a higher view even as Mars in Scorpio plunges us down deep.  This is great energy to break through something that is resistant. Let's keep a cool head and stay steady over the next few days. Mars in Scorpio understands that power comes through us and not from us.

Tomorrow Mars trines (brakes off) Chiron (healing, wounding). Mars rules early, early childhood. Some fear or pain from then can/will be healed now .....

Set your New Moon intentions - YAY! FRESH START! - you know the drill!

AFFIRMATION TIPS: get into a happy frame of mind - always make affirmations from a  positive place (positive meaning both happy and certain) - write your affirmations down by hand in script,  speak them out loud - I always write my affirmations on strips of paper. This month maybe we'll burn them and release the ashes into the cool Aquarian air. Then release your attention from them knowing that your intention is known.  

Know these things are already yours. xo all

Ooh also, the Chinese Year of the Red (fire) Monkey kicks off today. I don't know much about Chinese astrology, but a fire monkey year sounds like a fast moving year with lots of chatter - which sounds about right. Back tomorrow.

New Moon in Aquarius on Monday | the answers will be found outside the box

out of our minds by jayelless

Monday's New Moon will be at 19 degrees Aquarius.

(FYI Aquarius rules friendship - they'll come in handy now -  Facebook is calling today Friendship Day - although I remember doing a giveaway for that once in the summer. I guess I was either way ahead of everyone else or way behind. I do like the idea of it during Aquarius season though so I'll go with Facebook on this one)

The lunar cycle (Capricorn) that is ending Sunday began with a conjunction to Pluto and included a retrograde Mercury's conjunction to Pluto and then direct station there. Pluto is the planet of death, destruction and obsession. This is pretty good energy to break our world into the sort of tiny little pieces that faced the king's men and their horses after the fall of Humpty Dumpty.

(I always wondered how the horses factored into this tale)

We were all tossed into whatever personal narrative this lengthy Pluto in Capricorn transit is stirring up in our lives. Many people are dealing with financial and job security concerns pretty intensely.

Remember we are all working through the Pluto in Capricorn transit - the collapse of corrupt and unsustainable structures. This transit isn't just something we are all dealing with collectively - this is energy we are all dealing with in our personal lives, too.

The collective story affects us individually just as the way we handle our personal stories affects the outcome of the collective story! We really are that powerful.

Yes, what you do affects me and what I do affects you.

(and you should probably thank me for all this God awful gut healing bone broth I've been drinking - ack!)

By the end of this week we'll all have received any Plutonian marching orders and reality checks loud and clear. 

Capricorn seasons are never easy but have been particularly harsh the last few years since Pluto moved in (we are at pretty much the midpoint of a 15-16 year cycle). We will all have to work with this energy at times.

Monday's New Moon squaring Mars in Scorpio (and Mars will be retrograde in Scorpio for many months this year) tells us that although we are entering a new lunar cycle we can't simply side step everything that has happened or throw pink paint over our problems and pretend they don't exist.

Carrying the energy of whatever reality these last few weeks have unearthed / bombed us with - even when it's uncomfortable and maybe especially when it's uncomfortable - helps ensure that our future plans and actions are more grounded and have less chance of falling apart later.

(remember this year's primary energy is the Saturn Neptune square that is testing our dreams - there will be obstacles!)

Aquarius/Scorpio is pretty much exactly the energy needed to push us out of a rut. This is 'outsider' energy where doing things differently might be just the ticket as long as we are prepared for things to veer off in whatever direction this energy takes. We could take things too far with this and get hurt or hurt someone else, so let's not do that, ok?

(remember for most of this year Jupiter is in Virgo - precise, measured steps get us where we need to go - also everyone needs to be prioritizing their health and physical bodies now - inflammation issues will require very clean diets this year - good health coaches will clean up)

This New Moon cycle takes us into eclipse season where anything can happen! I'll post more about this in the weekly on Monday, but for those dealing with this month's muck know that lighter energies are ahead of us.

The dense energies will start to lift as more planets move into Aquarius and she brings her kind of unique electricity and leaps in thinking into the mix.

The answers will be found outside the box.

xo all

Astrology Forecast for Creatives | Week of February 1st - lots of push to get things done

a little push by stephanie dan

Busy, fast moving week. Lots of "push" to get things done and by "done", I mean finished. The Moon is waning - whatever needs to go out the door, needs to go out the door.

We start the week with a Scorpio Moon and in the aftermath of the clashes Mercury dealt (is that a word?) with this past weekend maybe some important information came through. Maybe more information just muddies our thinking. Maybe we get a breakthrough. Either way it's a good day to go within and think about our personal evolution since Mercury entered his shadow in mid December.

On Tuesday the Moon moves into lighter and more visionary Sagittarius until Thursday. Lots of busy productive energy. Time will fly, so stay focused on one thing at a time and see it through or nothing will get done. The Moon is void all day Thursday so not a good time to start anything we don't want to fizzle out. The good news - any crisis that crop up then will be a waste of time and worry and not come to anything.

Tuesday is also Brigid's Day (more commonly in the U.S. called Groundhog Day) - the midpoint between winter and spring - although the exact midpoint is 15 degrees Aquarius, and since this is my natal Sun degree - I will celebrate on the 4th when the Sun hits 15 degrees Aquarius - more on this later. Light a yellow candle. Let's be thankful for our progress since the Winter Solstice.

Mid week, we have Mars (still in Scorpio, get used to that) sextiling Pluto (ruler of Mars and currently housed in Capricorn). Also Mercury is sextiling Chiron in Pisces. This could be a good time to give a voice to what hurts and to take effective action. The Sun (in freedom loving Aquarius) also sextiles stodgy Saturn (in big picture freedom loving Sagittarius) so movements toward FREEDOM are getting the universal GREEN LIGHT. This won't remove all obstacles and sextiles require some kind of action on our part - it's like a door cracks open - it's our choice what, if anything, we do with it - it's still some good, positive energy.

At the end of the week Venus conjuncts Pluto (in Capricorn) and then squares Uranus (in Aries). Let's do something we are passionate about. Venus themes - our values, art, money, women - get intense. We will know what we want and what we want might upset some apple carts. Women won't be taking any crap. Maybe something in the collective around women will surface the way the issue about the lack of African American nominees at the Oscars hit a couple weeks ago.

Back in a day or two. For the big picture remember we are working through BIG collective energies that are shifting everything - if our ground doesn't feel shaky, we are probably not standing up.

NOTE - remember I write about aspects when they are exact - they are often (other than the Moons) very near exact for days before and after and you might feel them and be working through them then. xo all