Mercury into Leo | dramatic conversations, NEWS, using our outside voice, speaking from our heart, do people listen to us? does what we say matter? we will care about this now

Speak by Jean Fan

Mercury (communications, information, our mental processes, siblings, local community, commerce, transportation) says hasta-la-vista to Cancer today and moves into fiery LEO where, because of his upcoming retrograde, he will hang his hat until August 19th!

Leo is the space we carry what 'makes us special'.

With Mercury (communication, intellect) here it will be easier to put our 'special' into words and to connect with the ideas and conversations that will push forward whatever we are most passionate about.

We will want our words to be heard and appreciated now. So will other people. Even the most reticent among us will want an audience. Our thinking/ideas (Mercury) can catch fire now (Leo).

Speaking from our hearts will connect us to other people's hearts. Encouraging words will matter.

This is very powerful energy. Leo is our superpower and should be used wisely. People will hear us with their heart and well as their head. 

This gives the potential for hearts to expand as well as to be broken into little, tiny pieces. Keep this in mind.

Leo is a fixed fire sign, so words can burn now and words can dig us even more rigidly into our positions.  

With Leo there is great opportunity for win-win and also for 'nobody wins'. 

The energy right now is excellent for teaching us how we express what we are passionate about. It's very supportive of 'top of the mountain' heart-filled type of proclamations and proposals. Do people listen to us? Does what we say matter? We will care about this now .......

Mercury will station retrograde on July 26th, so he will get all the way to 23 degrees Leo, then stop (from our perspective here on Earth) and reverse course to 11 degrees, then stop, reverse course again and start moving forward again. He will get back to 23 degrees Leo on September 3rd and then start covering new ground. So from July 8th when he hits 11 degrees Leo through September 3rd we will be going back and forth over whatever Mercury's retrograde is stirring up for us in our natal Leo house.

This is the house of the North Node of Fate and our future, only for a few more months (!), so certainly this will be about us following our heart, our creativity, children, romance, stepping into our natural spotlight, doing what makes us feel proud and generous. At the same time he will be opposing that South Node (of what is ripe for release) in Aquarius - distraction, detachment, herd-mentality, releasing identities that cause division.

It is not a coincidence we have Mars retrograding back and forth through Aquarius (the South Node) and Mercury moving back and forth through Leo (the North Node) ALL summer, Venus will be in Virgo, the sign of her detriment and the other planets will ALL be retrograde. Plus have I said - 3 eclipses! July and August are going to be intense. We can already feel this.

The first aspect Mercury makes (exact TOMORROW and in play now) is a square to rebellious, anything-can-happen Uranus (in Taurus at 1 degree) and a trine to Chiron (at 2 degrees Aries).

Communications/news/information will be LOUD and UNEXPECTED likely causing tension and frustration. The brakes-off trine to wounded healer Chiron tells us to give voice to our pain; to talk about what hurts. This could relate to whatever Thursday's Full Moon brought to light or to a peak or culmination.

For many people a sudden shift of circumstances begins this week.  

Heads up that Mercury is going to hook up with the North Node on TUESDAY so let's pay attention to the information/conversation/news that comes to our attention beginning NOW, but especially early next week - clues to the smoothest movement toward our highest level future path are being tossed at us like breadcrumbs and even full loaves of Wonder, let's hope the birds - my backyard Blue jays are brutal this year - don't get to them first!

xo all

Remember the Moon is void all day today folks. Not a good day to start anything new.

Full Moon in Capricorn | closures and commitments, security, power, control, painful losses, surprises, the results of working hard, hardly working or working hard at the wrong things, did we put our ladder against the wrong wall?

Today's Full Moon in Capricorn (12:53AM EDT last night) is a challenging one. Capricorn Full Moons are always heavy - our emotional Moon, challenged in cold-as-ice Capricorn, is opposed by the Sun in the Moon's sign of Cancer - and this one is particularly hard-core.

The Sun at 6 degrees Cancer opposes the Moon at 6 degrees Capricorn, conjuncts Saturn (ruler of this Full Moon through his rulership of Capricorn) squares (tension/frustration/pain) wounded healer Chiron and trines (brakes off) "shocking and unexpected" change maker Uranus.

This whole thing sounds very much like Sun opposite Saturn which we talked about yesterday - and which of course, is still in play here.

In Capricorn the Moon is cold and practical, reserved and quiet. We might not feel like howling at the moon with this one. Strikes could be deadly, but they will likely be controlled.

This is about the Cancer/Capricorn polarity AND the themes of our natal Cancer/Capricorn houses.

Family vs. work. The security that comes from nurturing ourselves, nurturing others or being nurtured vs the security that comes from having work in the world and money coming in. Our nest at home vs our place in the world. Summer vs. winter. Preparing for birth vs preparing for death "winter is coming". Childhood vs old age. Vulnerability vs self-sufficiency. Mom vs dad.

There is so much contradiction and conflict here, but like all polarities this is really just two sides of the same coin - something labeled SECURITY.

We can't own a coin without owning both sides.

But we can only look at (focus on) one side at a time. The other side is in the shadows - so we have to flip back and forth and balance this stuff out with our time, attention and resources. There isn't really an end to this or a way to "win" here.

We just do the best we can with what we have.

Spend too much time with one side of the coin and the other side gets all gunky like those pennies stuck in our car cupholder that have had coffee dripped on them. Now matter how shiny the other side looks that gunky side means we never get to actually spend the money

(yes, this could be one of my strange metaphors that don't get us anywhere - except maybe out to the car with a squirt bottle of vinegar and a cup of soapy water).

Being about Cancer (home, family) and Capricorn (work, responsibilities in the world) or our own needs and the needs of other people - any imbalances here will probably show up now to allow us to realign what isn't working.   

Also imbalances with authority and authority figures and the way we use and mis-use our own authority/responsibility.
 
The Capricorn Full Moon throws a light on what power can do and also on the finality of choices we've already made. 

This Moon pulls us back to the January New Moon and the work we set into motion then (ie New Year's resolutions) - how is that working for us? 

Both Cancer and Capricorn are concerned with issues of SECURITY, both value TIME and are guardians of the legacy of our ancestors.

Full Moons bring culminations, so maybe something ends now.

Full Moons bring things to light. Capricorn themes (and your personal Capricorn/Cancer house themes) will be highlighted - tradition, structure, work, obligations, responsibility, authority, ambition, limits, boundaries, restrictions, goals. Old Man Saturn will win this round. Chiron will make sure we feel the loss/culmination. Uranus will catch us by surprise and push us toward a different future. There probably won't be any space to turn away and shield our eyes.

Remember the Achilles heel with Capricorn and Saturn is that this energy often values stability over everything else. Its strength is in being 'un-moveable'. But stable things grow stagnant. Being un-moveable is not a good or realistic way to move through a life that is so changeable. The trine to unpredictable and freedom-loving Uranus will mitigate this somewhat or just push things Saturn's way, but at the end of the day old man Saturn (not quite as changed by his journey 6 months ago across the Galactic Center as I might have hoped ... not quite yet) won't be messed with. Rules, limits, boundaries, responsibilities will be enforced.

There are many changes ahead this summer (and re-plays) as an out-of-bounds, retrograde Mars journeys back and forth across the South Node of Fate through 3 eclipses and multiple Super Moons releasing us from lifetimes of ancestral karmic contracts. We have Chiron back and forth across Pisces and Aries. We have Uranus back and forth across Aries and Taurus.

We are still physically, mentally and emotionally hanging onto an old reality that doesn't exist anymore (Age of Pisces/patriarchy/top down authority).  

We just can't see that yet.

And with Ceres (I am more and more coming to see her as ruling Taurus, ground zero for lightning strikes and Uranus is answering to her now) moving into Virgo TODAY, where she will stay throughout the summer (until September 6th) - this is also the updating of everything we think we know about our physical body and our health as we release attachments to old familial DNA patterning and the deep-rooted beliefs that keep us limited and stuck.

For today, this Moon is very grounded. Walk in it .. if you dare :)

xo all

Note, if we are not liking the results we are seeing now the trine to Uranus could make it easier to bounce off in an entirely new direction and get some traction fairly quickly.

Sun Opposite Saturn | limits, NO, a difficult direction, taking responsibility for our situation without judging ourselves

16.365 by Laauraa

Once a year the Sun and Saturn line up in exact opposition. Today we have the Cancer Sun opposing Saturn (in Capricorn) at 5 degrees.

We could hear a "no" now, we could say "no", hit a limit, have to deal with some kind of burden. A light shines on WHY we are being blocked and what obligations remain. We are being pushed in a difficult direction.

Saturn/Sun can also limit self-expression or bring father/authority issues. The opposition comes from something outside ourselves (appears to) - the action of another person or a situation it seems we cannot control. At the same time we can see the way our own actions/thoughts have set ourselves up here.

This energy might not feel good. Saturn can be depressing because it is quite literally like a weight pressing down on us.

I am not going to write again about the need to "step into our responsibility", work hard, do the right thing, yada-yada. We know this. We are just as likely to get off course by stepping into someone else's responsibility, working too hard, taking on too much or neglecting the other muses. Saturn isn't everything (he hasn't been the "buck stops here" limit since the invention of the telescope, we have to keep this in mind) and he doesn't run every show as much as he (as we) would like to.

We are building toward tomorrow's Full Moon in Capricorn. Let's give ourselves a break (Cancer!).

We can take responsibility for the situation we find ourselves in without judgement.

Just hold space for yourself. Look without attachment at the current situation. Resolve to move forward in a more responsible manner in whatever area of life we feel this pressure. And remember that "in a more responsible manner" will have different meanings for different people!

People pleasing is a kind of grandiosity thinking/belief system that creates Saturnian challenges.

My natal Sun/Saturn conjunction means I do not often encounter Saturnian limits outside myself - I am much more likely to encounter a person/situation ready to hand off their own overloaded bag to me and/or to spend my time figuring out new ways to overburden/limit/stress myself out.

(On Sunday I went to a birthday party for my nephew which was decorated in an explorer theme. I had loaned my sister-in-law a few props for the party - vintage suitcases, vintage globes, etc. As the party was wrapping up, a good friend of my sister-in-law asked me if she could borrow one of the vintage suitcases - my favorite one - for an upcoming show. She is a very talented and commercially successful artist.

She had the suitcase in her hand when she asked and I had my hands filled with presents I was boxing up. She said she had searched for a suitcase like this and they cost around $85.00. Now instead of saying, "yes, they are hard to find and that is probably about what I paid for it. Unfortunately it is a favorite and irreplaceable and I don't lend it out" instead of thinking about why I should risk my $85 suitcase to someone who doesn't value it enough to purchase her own - I said "sure".

Later on I heard her talking about how she wished she could take the hot air balloon my brother had made with her for her show, but it wouldn't fit on the plane but a suitcase would be an easy thing to take on a plane (on a plane!). That night, when I was home and had time to think, ie ruminate, I was totally annoyed with myself that I had given so little thought to lending out something I cared about and couldn't replace if something happened to it and annoyed with her for asking and "putting me on the spot".

I was busy Monday and Tuesday and by Tuesday night when I slowed down - and with the Sun approaching his opposition to Saturn, which I was feeling, but not thinking about - I called my sister-in-law to get her friend's number to rescind my "yes"; to tell her "no". Sometimes 'stepping into our responsibility and living up to our obligations' is about our responsibility and obligation to ourselves - to putting ourselves first.

I am grateful to this woman for this experience - which I obviously needed "to put me on the spot" - even though it has been very uncomfortable (and, of course, a minor situation, but I would rather learn by the pebble than the rock). Next time, when the situation isn't a minor situation, I will do better. I will do better. How many times should I write that to make it stick?! Maybe I need a suitcase tattoo. And how appropriate this is about a suitcase and I am really wanting to travel since cancelling my trip! Did I write about that?!)

We also have an all day Void Moon.

The best use of today's energies could be working - probably alone! - on a project/goal. In the collective we will see corporate/conservative "wins" (Saturn wins this one) like we are seeing with the Supreme Court rulings over the last couple days.

xo all

As we build toward Thursday's Full Moon conjunct Saturn this is an excellent time to see the planet Saturn in the night sky. More info on that HERE.

Mars Stations Retrograde | back to the future, our summer of delays and BIG unexpected moves, he/she/that thing we thought we were finished with is BACK, reviews, revisions, fighting about THAT again, hurry up and WAIT

karanlIkta by siyahtapot

Today we have Mars stationing retrograde at 9 degrees Aquarius.

He will move backward (from our perspective on Earth) until he stations direct again on August 27th at 28 degrees Capricorn.

The "heart" of his retrograde will be at 4 degrees Aquarius - conjunct the total Lunar Eclipse on July 27th opposite the Sun - circle this date and the days around it!

The fact that within hours of his station (stillness as he prepares to change direction) - and remember planets are uber powerful when standing still - we have a Full Moon in Capricorn both ruled by Saturn and conjunct Saturn and Saturn is the co-ruler of Aquarius - well, we will all be feeling this. 

Like all retrogrades this one is about re-evaluation. Mars rules, among other things, our actions and initiative - so outward movement will slow, in some situations it will simply stop.

See TUESDAY in the weekly for lots more info!

His retrograde means he is very close to the Earth this summer so we could see red Mars in the night sky. NASA has great information to track him. HERE is a link. You may have to look around the site for other info.

When Mars first went into Aquarius, back on May 16th, he immediately squared Uranus freshly minted in Taurus. This was a sudden push, break, CHANGE. People with planets or points between 0-2 degrees of the fixed signs most especially felt this one, but I think we all probably did either through situations in our own life or the lives of those close to us. THIS aspect set the stage for this transit. And because Mars was walking degrees he would walk again two more times whatever we were dealing with then, at the starting line, will get repeated pushes/breaks/changes as Mars makes his way back to the degree he first walked on May 12th.

What did you have going on around May 12th through May 16th?

Mars in Aquarius is rebellious and stubborn. We know there is no telling an Aquarius what to do or changing their mind (maybe if you can find one with a Mercury in Pisces, but all the Aquarians I know have Mercury in Capricorn or Aquarius), but we do have two more Uranus squares (kicks in the pants, unexpected changes to the status quo) to keep things MOVING. Plus have I said the eclipses are coming this summer - three of them!

Aquarius rules innovation and advancement (and the South Node right now which Mars will conjunct on July 20th!) so whatever it is we are going back over will be leading us forward.  

We are breaking away from the past here.

This will be about re-inventing our passion, our drive, the ways we handle sex and anger, our wounded masculine, MEN!

For people whose situations/actions are "out of divine timing" Mars retrograde offers us the gift of delays. For people whose situations/actions require a major re-boot or kick in the ass - Mars retrograde will give us the gift of "re-doing, re-inventing" something. Either way this early degree fixed energy and late degree cardinal energy (remember Mars will move back through very late Capricorn - our goals and ambitions, rules and limits, authority) is coming unstuck.

Although first we are going to feel like a car spinning its wheels in a snow bank!

If you have planets/points in your natal chart in the fixed signs - Aquarius, Taurus, Leo, Scorpio - at around 9 degrees you are surely already feeling this.

Let's take a brief look through the signs! This is general and uses whole houses. An Aries rising (for example) might not have Aquarius ruling her/his 11th house, so look around - likely one sign in either direction - and see what fits best. Also remember this retrograde will end (in Capricorn) - as it began back in mid-May - in our previous house, so in this list check the sign of the NEXT house, too!

ARIES/Aries Rising (Aquarius 11th house) - this is happening in your 11th house of the collective (ending in your 10th house of career/public life) - your friendships, groups, causes, the internet, the public, the goals that bring you into relationship with other people, your advancement, technology. Something here is getting delayed or rebuilt.

NOTE - Aries reading is the collective house (Aquarius rules the 11th house) for this transit so in general applies to everyone. Maybe an old internet friend - likely one who pushes our buttons - is coming back into our sphere or something that comes to our attention via the internet is part of the Mars retrograde re-boot. Maybe we are rethinking our group alignments or our relationship to the public. Impediments are possible with group projects and our "causes". The goals that bring us into relationship with other people are getting delayed, reviewed or REBUILT. We are releasing distraction and detachment.

TAURUS/Taurus Rising (Aquarius 10th house) this is happening in your 10th house of your career, your calling, your achievements, your achievement goals, dad, business, authority, responsibility. Something here is getting delayed or rebuilt.

GEMINI/Gemini Rising (Aquarius 9th house) this is happening in your 9th house of travel, higher education, weddings, politics, legal issues, the media, publishing, foreigners, everything outside your comfort zone, exploration, your beliefs and higher thinking. Something here is getting delayed or rebuilt.

CANCER/Cancer Rising (Aquarius 8th house) this is happening in your 8th house of other people's resources, other people's values, intimacy, other people's money, spouse's income, loans, debts, taxes, inheritance, death, rebirth, sex, reproduction. Something here is getting delayed or rebuilt.

LEO/Leo Rising (Aquarius 7th house) this is happening in your 7th house of partners and partnerships. Something here is getting delayed or rebuilt. Maybe you and your partner are going back over an old issue or an old partner makes a new appearance (romantic or otherwise).

VIRGO/Virgo Rising (Aquarius 6th house) this is happening in your 6th house of your day-to-day activities, your routine, work, co-workers, pets and your health. Something here is getting delayed or rebuilt.

LIBRA/Libra Rising (Aquarius 5th house) this is happening in your 5th house of creative projects, your self-expression, what you give birth to, children, romance and recreation. Something here is getting delayed or rebuilt.

NOTE - this is the house ruled by our North Node Leo - so you could be reviewing what your heart really wants, reigniting a passion for something you once loved, re-looking at how you get attention/the spotlight or the ways you take/avoid the center stage of your own life.

SCORPIO/Scorpio Rising (Aquarius 4th house) this is happening in your 4th house of home, family, your roots, mother, mothering, your ancestry, real estate, renovation or a home business. Something here is getting delayed or rebuilt.

SAGITTARIUS/Sag Rising (Aquarius 3rd house) this is happening in your 3rd house of communication, information, writing, siblings, transportation or your local neighborhood. money, your values, your resources and self-esteem. Something here is getting delayed or rebuilt.

CAPRICORN/Capricorn Rising (Aquarius 2nd house) this is happening in your 2nd house of your money, your values, your resources and self-esteem. Something here is getting delayed or rebuilt. Note Mars is going to dip back into your sign so take a look at Aquarius.

AQUARIUS/Aquarius Rising (Aquarius 1st house) this is happening in your first house of yourself dear Aquarius! This could be about reinventing yourself or taking another look at a relationship/relationship issue. The ways you handle or avoid initiative/anger/beginnings could be a focus. There will be second chances and re-boots and likely the need for a few steps backward. Something in your life is getting delayed or rebuilt.

PISCES/Pisces Rising (Aquarius 12th house) this is happening in your 12th house of what is hidden or put away or done behind the scenes, secrets, the ethereal realms, imagination, hospitals, spirituality, addiction, healing, dreams, endings, how we end things, what we do last. Something here is getting delayed or rebuilt.

We will talk about this transit as we move through it, but you should have a general idea of what to expect (delays, sudden changes with those Uranian squares, breaks from the past with the South Node) and the ways to work with it - 

not the best time for big, bodacious moves because much will be in flux, let things iron out a bit. Sit with what is happening, "isn't this interesting/ what could this be about?". Instead of just pushing ahead, stop and think about why you are pushing and what you are pushing FOR. 

Expect stuff from the past - people/situations, ARGUMENTS to rear their heads - so we can review, revise or finally let this stuff go. This is a huge opportunity for whatever is standing in the way of us following our hearts and their yearning toward greater freedom - to be re-viewed, re-built or re-leased.

xo all

This is a really big transit for Trump. We will talk about that later.

Astrology Forecast for Creatives | Week of June 25th - don't buy that pricey thing you don't really need, progress slows or stops, report card time, limits, words get bigger and bolder, unexpected information requires a pivot

novooo by nikelena

The big action this week is:

MONDAY - Venus squares Jupiter
TUESDAY - Mars stations retrograde
WEDNESDAY - Sun opposes Saturn
THURSDAY - Capricorn Full Moon conjunct Saturn
FRIDAY - Mercury into Leo
SATURDAY - Mercury squares Uranus

On MONDAY we have Venus (in Leo) squaring Jupiter (in Scorpio). This could expand any desire to spend/go big/play/celebrate. This is a good aspect if you sell things for a living, but if you are a buyer it might be a good idea to leave your credit card at home. We are more likely to over-spend now.

We could take whatever this is too far, but most likely this will just be us feeling over-indulgent, maybe summer-lazy and just not in the mood for anything that tastes like work.

Avoid unnecessary arguments because things could get bigger than we intended.

This is not a good day to sign on the dotted line - our head will be on the big, possible overly-rosy picture and not where it is needed to make a good decision - in the details.

The Moon moved into Sagittarius on Sunday night (9:29PM EDT) - after a long Void Moon Sunday - which could have us focused on Sag themes for the next couple days - travel, foreign issues, higher education, religion, wedding, legal issues, our beliefs and the big picture, media, politics and publishing.

We start the day TUESDAY with Neptune's monthly square to our Sag Moon - we might feel confused, deluded, wanting to escape into fantasy (or addiction) - we could also be idealistic and imaginative.

This is the last aspect we get before a LONG Void Moon - all day Tuesday until Wednesday at 11:52AM EDT. Not the right energy to start anything new or launch anything that requires a connective landing.

At 5:05PM EDT, Mars stations retrograde until August 27th. This is the BIG news of the summer and it is a big summer without it - 3 eclipses, 2 Super Moons and 5 other planets retrograde, too - with Mars retrograde this summer is off the charts. Mars will move from 9 degrees Aquarius to 29 degrees Capricorn, so people with planets or points within those degrees and the other fixed signs (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio) will feel this energy strongest.

We will all feel the slowdown though. We will have to think before we act and cut back on the caffeine!

Keep in mind Mars rules accidents and violence and is very powerful at station (and actually during his entire retrograde very close to the Earth), so think about where you are and what you are doing. Stay mindful.

Mars is going to move back and forth over the South Node multiple times - karma, self undoing/self-sabotage, endings, releases. The South Node degree is also the degree of July 27th's Lunar Eclipse - the longest total lunar eclipse I can remember.

We are going to talk through all of this, but know this summer is NOT business as usual. We will re-do things we have done before, get to do things we missed doing the first time around - experience second chances with opportunities/people/situations we missed. With Mars ruling our passion - this could be about rekindling an old passion.

Mars goes retrograde every couple years, but not on the South Node!

There will be endings - and with Aquarius being a fixed sign and this all happening near the South Node, endings are endings. Lots of karmic contracts are going to bite the dust. With Mars in Aquarius and Aquarius the ruler of Uranus recently ingressed into Taurus this will activate/influence that transit - our early Taurus house. If we are determined to power our way through this summer with new actions expect to face some closed doors and needs to change course.

Pushy, world-centered activity tends to bite us in the butt when Mercury is retrograde (this might not be true for people born when Mars was retrograde) - don't start any fights, the person who starts the fight will surely lose now (or be the big learner if we look at it that way - which is why we won't always be able to stop ourselves from launching that grenade!). If instead we turn our focus inside and allow our actions to flow from the passion initiated from that this will be a much easier/smoother transit for us.

Aries rules men, so expect men (maybe especially young men) to be out of sorts this summer with Mars moving backward (appearing to from our position on Earth). Some who never hesitate will be hesitating (or pulling the trigger too soon) and the others who normally need a push will be out there pushing.

We'll talk alot about this as we move through it. This is a process. We don't want to waste this Mars transit - we are going to need it to move our highest energy into 2019/2020.

We start WEDNESDAY with that Void Moon until the Moon moves into Capricorn at 11:52AM EDT. This changes our focus to our goals, our ambitions, our responsibilities, our work in the world. The Moon in Capricorn is less compassionate and emotional so able to get done what needs to be done.

The Sun (in Cancer) opposes Saturn today - yes, with the Moon in Capricorn answering to Saturn! This is a roadblock, a NO, a limit, a responsibility. Not a good day to have to deal with authority. Not the day to ask the boss for a favor/raise. We could see leaders fall or make moves that further consolidate their power now. Situations could take us back to when Venus opposed Saturn in May.

On THURSDAY we have a "serious as a heart attack" Full Moon in Capricorn (ruled by Saturn, Capricorn's ruler) conjunct Saturn. Full Moons bring things to light, to a peak or to a culmination. There is a square to Chiron - so something hurts and a trine (brakes off) to Uranus so something is moving us into our future now, too. I will write a post by sign.

Wednesday and Thursday look a bit like report card time to me! This is a heavy Full Moon, not to be trifled with.

On FRIDAY, the Moon is again void ALL DAY.

Mercury (communications, information, our mental processes, siblings, local community, commerce, transportation) moves into fiery LEO and because of his upcoming retrograde she will be in Leo until August 19th!

Conversations will be more dramatic. Volumes will be set to HIGH. This is excellent energy for self-promotion and creative self-expression and speaking from our heart.

If you are a girl who likes things quiet, invest in some ear plugs - you are going to need them. Everyone will tell us what they are thinking and doing. Yes, our Facebook feed will explode. Leo loves an audience! Keep in mind alot of things we will be listening to/talking about now could be exaggerated. The shadow side of Leo is a fear of being humiliated, so it does tend to make the energy somewhat brash and boastful.

Our Leo natal house (where is Leo in your natal chart and after more than a year of talking about the North Node in Leo you should know this one!) wakes up with increased activity and requires more of our attention.

Leo is our fixed fire sign. People's positions, and we will hear all about them (!), will become louder and more entrenched. No one will be changing anyone else's mind now. This is not the most cooperative energy, but it can often bring out the best in people. Mercury in Leo can be idealistic and enthusiastic.

Moving into Leo, Mercury quickly squares Uranus (in Taurus) FRIDAY and SATURDAY. Unexpected news could cause tension/frustration. Leo's big, brash language/information could be shocking. This probably connects us back to mid-June when Venus squared Uranus. The whole thing was trining Chiron then, now we get a more painful square.

After the void on Friday the Moon moves into Aquarius. We are more humanitarian now, but also more detached from what is right in front of us. The themes Mars is activating for us collectively could have our personal attention over the next couple days - our friendships, groups, causes, the internet, the public, the goals that bring you into relationship with other people, our advancement, technology.

Hopefully I hit all the important points for now. This is another BIG week. Mars station alone would make a big week and a Full Moon in Capricorn, so together we are UBER activated. Keep your eye on that North Node in Leo - moving toward your own center stage and what your heart wants. Take a breath. We are playing the long game and after Tuesday, no one is getting anywhere fast anyway.

xo all

Life is a chessboard (and a box of chocolate, too, of course) and this year we are being pushed and drop-kicked toward the positions we are most needed for a successful collective outcome in 2020. This year is the bridge year - this is why it feels like there is no ground beneath our feet! And yes, I realize there are no bridges on a chessboard - I need some help with these metaphors and my brain is not cooperating! Physically, mentally and emotionally - we are moving toward where we, and our energy level, needs to be. It can be exhausting, especially when we are dealing with the worn foundational issues we have ignored/procrastinated and the spaces where we have become super-glued to anything.

I feel your pain fixed signs!

Saturn in Capricorn is making sure our big, bodacious dreams (and little ones, too) come with big, bodacious ie 'burdensome' price tags now so give yourself a break whenever you can - well, maybe not on days when Saturn is activated (!) - but this is Cancer season - we need to take care of ourselves.

The highest level of healthy Cancerian energy is very highly attuned to herself - extremely loyal to himself. Cancer is a water sign ruled by the Moon and feels and digests its way through life - they say, "well, I don't feel like I want to do that" - and then they don't - ha! We are all burning Cancer fuel now (Sun in Cancer) and that Saturnian 'rain on our parade' is going to be strong this week. Take care of yourself.

Sun into Cancer | Summer Solstice - nostalgia, feeling vulnerable and how we feel about the vulnerability we see in others, moving past the decision, SUMMERTIME!

Sand wings. by Lileinaya

The sun moves into the sign of Cancer on Thursday. At 0 degrees Cancer we start the Summer Solstice (the southern hemisphere starts the Winter Solstice).

A chart drawn up for the morning of the Summer Solstice will give us an idea of the overall energy for the summer (the second celestial quarter of the year) - just like a new chart drawn on our birthday can give us the themes for our new year.

This year the Sun is squaring Chiron (in Aries). There is something here about not feeling safe or not feeling mothered or cared for. It could be some tension around a home/family issue - a frustrating situation now could trigger a childhood wound/trauma pain.

Kind of like "feel the fear and do it anyway" Chiron in brave and independent Aries asks us to feel the pain (or fear or weakness) and soldier on anyway ....

Cancer, ruled by the Moon, is about our emotions so we could be more emotional now with whatever we have going on.

We had Venus (in Cancer) square Chiron back in mid-May and Mercury (in Cancer) in mid-June. There could be a culmination/coming to light now of what hurt then AND the wound will have still deeper roots (childhood).

Remember Cancer is the sign of the mother and the baby. Let's be kind to ourselves. Let's nurture ourselves. Know that any unsteady ground (instability) or unsure decisions will be exasperated now and trigger other times/spaces we didn't feel safe/sure. This isn't something we have to solve. Gemini season (the mind) ends when Cancer season starts. This is something we have to feel.
 
Solstice means standstill: the Summer Solstice is the time when the sun halts its journey over the Tropic of Cancer on its tropical journey north - then after three days, turns in its tracks and begins its journey south. The time of symbolic marriage - we call this period Midsummer.

The Solstice is like a powerful full moon in its potent energy but like a new moon with its clean energy for a fresh start - instead of walking in the moonlight it's time to get up early and absorb the sunrise - at least one of the 3 days if you can - there is much magic at play now. 

Remember our DNA carries the energy of our ancestors who celebrated the solstice all over the planet for centuries.

This is powerful stuff. Set your intention for the new season of your life. Light a candle and let it burn in the sunlight. This is the manifesting energy of fairy magic!

The Summer Solstice was once the biggest celebration of the year.

The shifting of celebratory emphasis from Summer Solstice (Moon/Mother/Cancer) to the Winter Solstice (Saturn/Father/Capricorn) reflects the dominance of the patriarchal paradigm of the last many centuries which we are currently evolving, so it is supportive of the emerging energies now for us to put our attention and intention on celebrating and enjoying this time of the year, too! In a few months the North Node will be moving into Cancer - home, family, security. We will not be talking so much about following our heart (North Node in Leo) as we will be about "coming home, what we really need to feel safe and secure, family, mothering, nurturing, emotions".

So today we move out of Gemini - I am a 3rd house kind of girl (Gemini rules the 3rd house) with three planets there, but have to say Hallelujah! One more day and my brains would have exploded.

Yesterday was the First Quarter Moon and we had the Gemini Sun squaring the Virgo Moon - a time of choices and details, although I bet alot of people have found out over the last few days they didn't have as many choices as they thought they did! In Gemini we want to keep all our options open, but at the First Quarter Square there is something about this that's a no-go now. Maybe the too many options are just too overwhelming and have to be pared down. Maybe life has pared things down for us. Maybe something has naturally risen to the top of the pile. We choose. We focus on that choice. We have Mars walking degrees he will walk two more times (and most of the heavens retrograde this summer) - so things we do now will be subject to some natural do-overs anyway.

With the Sun's move into Cancer so quickly after the square we could feel the emotional loss of anything in our rearview mirror - what we didn't get/didn't choose/have to give up to - that's OK, that's what we are supposed to feel. I hope we also feel some excitement about whatever in our life is having a 'changing of the guard' even as we continue to work through the nitty gritty day-to-day details of the thing.

Venus is hanging out with the North Node - our collective way forward. Venus, ruler of Taurus and our 2nd house of what we value is in Leo, ruler of our 5th house of our creative projects, our joy, our heart, our romance, our children - do we value our children? Do we value our own happiness, our own personal joy? The Mars/Venus opposition we have been talking about for awhile is also exact today!

Neptune has just turned retrograde, so it's like we can see the man behind the curtains now, and over the next few months.

Mars is turning retrograde (in Aquarius) in just five days. Doing the same old/same old doesn't work in the Age of Aquarius - which is all about advancement and equality. This summer is intense with 3 eclipses and two inner planets - Mars and Mercury - both retrograde, as well as pretty much all the outer planets (!) - slowing everything down. We have a big mid-July eclipse in Cancer opposing Pluto.

For today, lets appreciate the gift of a brand new season (summer or winter depending on where on planet Earth you hang your hat).

We are alive. Life is changing for all of us.

Cancer is all about family and home and history and patriotism and security - about having our needs met and meeting the needs of others we are close to. Family interactions will be sentimental. What we need and what other people need will be colored by our memories of how things used to be (or how we wished they had been). Comfort comes from people and situations that are familiar.

We could feel a bit lonely or nostalgic now.

It's about vulnerability (being vulnerable and how we see vulnerability in other people - playing out in the United States in technicolor through a hard-line immigration policy and its impact on families) and how we deal with that.

The Sun will shine a light on these areas as well as light up our natal Cancer house.

Cancer is ruled by the Moon. Her emotional nature comes from the fact she changes signs every couple days - contrast that with the Sun who moves through one sign a month or Neptune who sits in the same sign for fifteen years. Can you imagine if the celestial body ruling our emotions stayed in the same place for fifteen years?

We wouldn't be moody anymore and certainly some people would be lucky enough to be smiling for over a decade, but we could be stuck in a bad mood through three presidents and two car loans. That's a whole lot of lemons, folks!

Looked at this way - the moody, changeable Moon is our friend.

Feel whatever you need to feel now. Solstice means standstill - so stand still. Get near water. Watch the sun rise. Light a candle in the sunshine. Do that balance an egg thing. And then let's be as gentle with ourselves as we are with that egg!

xo all

Astrology Forecast for Creatives | Week of June 18th - PAY ATTENTION, saying it out loud, putting it in writing, feeling dizzy, separating the illusion from reality, what we want is wanting us right back, a wake up call at the end of the week

words of love by oprisco

OK, let's take a look at the week ahead!

MONDAY - Neptune stations retrograde
TUESDAY - Mercury trines Jupiter (part of Grand Water Trine), Venus conjuncts the North Node
WEDNESDAY - Mercury trines Neptune
THURSDAY - Summer Solstice | Sun into Cancer, Venus opposes Mars
SATURDAY - Sun square Chiron, Mercury opposes Pluto (OUCH)

We have a gorgeous Grand Water Trine (yes, another one!) - peaking on TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY with Neptune in Pisces trining Jupiter in Scorpio trining Mercury in Cancer. Our words, our thinking, our ideas - are very powerful now because they will have not only Mercury but also the energy of Neptune and Scorpio behind them in a closed energetic loop. Remember in early June we had the same loop except then we had Venus instead of Mercury in Cancer. Maybe the thing we wanted then or that came to our attention then - can now be said out loud or put in writing.

This is an important week for INFORMATION (also other Mercurian themes - communication, siblings, our local environment, teaching, writing, transportation, commerce) with lots of karmic reaping (what we have sown) and a foreshadowing of our future as Mercury walks the path previously laid out by Venus and also does a little fortune telling via that big mid-July eclipse in Cancer.

This is also the last week we will have Mars in forward motion for months - if hay needs to be made somewhere, best to get on with it. The Moon is waxing.

On MONDAY the Moon will move into industrious Virgo while we sleep, so no sleeping in. I's will need to be dotted and T's crossed. The Moon (in Virgo) will trine Uranus (in Taurus) early in the day - good for commerce, ambition, making money. Late afternoon EDT the Moon will trine stable Saturn - so tending to our responsibilities, doing the right thing, interactions with authority - should all move us forward.

The big news of the day, and it could make the entire day kind of dreamy and ungrounded, happens at 7:27PM EDT when Neptune stations retrograde at 16 degrees (where he has been hanging out for what feels like forever on top of my natal Jupiter!). He will backtrack to 13 degrees and then on November 25th he will station direct. All retrogrades are period of re-visions and re-dos.

Neptune rules the ocean, the seas, sleep, our dreams (both the dreams when we are sleeping and the dreams when we are awake), the unconscious, the subconscious, our inter-connectedness, flow, imagination, compassion, meditation, medication, illusion, deception, lies, addiction, alcohol, exhaustion, escape, baptism, sacrifice, spirituality, detox, faith, psychology, mental health, mental illness, intuition, mysticism, fantasy, the ethereal realms (things that cannot be seen, touched, tasted or heard with our five senses), art, dance, music, film, chemicals, drugs, poison, ghosts, victims, martyrs, saints, religion, fanaticism, hospitals, healing, research, confusion, retreats, release, isolation, orphans, nursing homes, retirement, our feet, vision, karma, hidden enemies, what is hidden, what we do in secret, what we don't want to look at, any lack of boundaries, the 12th house of our charts (things we do last, things that are put away, our subconscious, our self-undoing), the house that holds Pisces in our natal charts.

Pisces rules endings. Most often the quiet kind.

Think of the way rock is worn away by water - slowly and almost imperceptibly - but effectively and permanently.

This one takes Neptune from 16 to 13 degrees Pisces through late November. If you have planets or points in those degrees or in those degrees in any of the water signs (Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces) or mutable signs (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces) you will feel this year's retrograde strongest. Neptune is retrograde about 40% of the time.

Something here is up for review which means situations, people, circumstances will come up that will re-focus our attention on one or more of these areas over the next few months.

This will be a time to reflect, re-do, re-evaluate, re-examine, release or re-visit what we are working with here. Neptune always turns us inward. 

Dream guidance and intuition will increase.

Remember when a big energy shifts like Neptune does today we will literally be "off" so things can just feel "off" - let's not push where we don’t need to push. Instead just stay alert to the signs and feelings around us and take our cue from them. We might require extra (or less) sleep, more (or less) time alone or more (or less) meditation time or time in or near water.

Avoid mind altering chemicals and known addictions.

Life's natural anesthetic is moving in reverse now, so the lure of outside numbing agents - that drink or shopping spree or pain pill will be stronger - keep this in mind.

Imagine we are standing at the shore line up to our knees in the cold ocean. When we look down into the water everything looks foggy. Our legs look two sizes too big, almost like one wide mermaid's tale (or this is how I imagine myself, clamshell bra and all). The shells and pebbles at our feet are not in exactly the place they appear to be when we reach for them. Even in the clearest water things are illusory and shifting.

Then the tide flows out. The shells at our feet look a lot more ordinary and less colorful and they are smaller than we thought they would be.

Instead of things being closer than they appear, they now appear to be exactly where they actually are. Stuff is a little less magical - the mermaid's tail/tale turns back into our ordinary legs/storyline; sunburned,  spider-veined and filled with typos - but now that we have legs again we can do all kinds of things we couldn't do before. Maybe sometimes the tail/tale is needed to keep us sane and protected, but at some point it just gets in our way.

And this is a sloppy, terrible metaphor, but you might see what I am getting at. 

Neptune retrogrades separate the illusion from reality.

And what we will be left with next November will be the reality. Useless boundaries, lies, guilt, martyr and victim stories and other tall tale/tails will be left on the shoreline. What was vague will clear up. Draining dreams will dissolve. Reality shifts. LIES ARE EXPOSED.

This could happen now, planets are uber-powerful when they station, slowly over the course of the retrograde or when Neptune turns direct in late November.

This would not be a good day to make an important decision.

On TUESDAY, the Moon continues her journey through Virgo - we are focused on our day-to-day activities, our work, our pets, our health.

At 3:43PM EDT Mercury (in Cancer) will trine Jupiter (in Scorpio) and trine Neptune (in Pisces). This is a smooth flow between issues dealing with home, relocation, family, renovation, home business, mother, our past AND other people's money, loans, mortgages, investments, inheritances, insurance, commissions AND those Pisces themes we talked about for yesterday.

Words are very powerful and expansive now. 

This transit connects back to early June when Venus was walking these same degrees (what we want, love, money, women, beauty, our values or self-esteem) and is foreshadowing the mid-July eclipse in Cancer here.

So what are we saying, what are we hearing, what are we signing, what ideas are we hatching, what thoughts are we thinking, what things are we learning? PAY ATTENTION.

This transit is excellent for creativity, for healing and also to feel quite lazy and just let things drift!

On the same day Venus conjuncts the North Node in Leo.

This is excellent energy for everyone on that North Node path - following our heart, taking the center-stage in our own life - this is where what we want meets our best path forward.

New attractions, opportunities, people will feel fated because they are. This is the time to step up.

The ways that we have been mired in that South Node in Aquarius - in distraction, in detachment, in technology, hiding out in a group or dissolving into group-think - will oppose Venus, so work at cross purposes with what we want. With Mars in Aquarius about to go retrograde and Venus moving toward an opposition with him in just two days - things won't be all puppies and kittens, but somebody somewhere is getting some puppies and kittens - I hope it is YOU!

We are stepping toward what makes us feel most proud and generous and ALIVE.

Leo ruler of the 5th, also rules children - hopefully this is the week the horrendous decision to pull immigrant children from their parents at the border can be stopped.

On WEDNESDAY, while we sleep, the Moon (in Virgo) will square the Sun (in Gemini) giving us our monthly First Quarter Square Moon. We will be facing a challenge with whatever kicked off at the Gemini New Moon last week - maybe we are facing a decision or feeling overwhelmed with details/choices (not all choices are real now). We may want to keep looking for more data, but it is probably time to focus on what we already know. It could be time to apply a solution, even if it is not a perfect solution.

The Moon moves into Libra at 8:29AM EDT - we should be a bit more balanced, diplomatic, focused on keeping everything on an even keel and on our partnerships over the next couple days. A late afternoon square with Saturn could everyone more difficult and inflexible. Authority or career issues are tense/frustrating.

At 11:59PM EDT (could make for some interesting dreams) Mercury will trine Neptune enabling our words/communications to go deeper. We may say more than we intended to say, but it won't necessarily be a bad thing. Great energy for creative writing and meditating. Also for healing words and information.

On THURSDAY the Moon (in Libra) goes void from 11:13AM EDT to 2:17PM EDT.  The Sun moves into Cancer at 6:07AM EDT welcoming the Summer Solstice - the longest day of the year - I will write a post.

This summer is going to be all about the "re's" with every planets except Venus (and the Sun and the Moon which never retrograde) turning retrograde AND focused on the big eclipse season where we will see the first eclipse on the Cancer/Capricorn axis.

This is also the day Venus opposes Mars - opposition around what we want and what we are willing to do to get it. We will talk about this in the Solstice post.

We end the week - SATURDAY - with the Sun squaring Chiron and Mercury opposing Pluto.

With Mercury (in Cancer) opposing Pluto (in Capricorn) we could get some information we don't want to know. There is probably something here we don't want to look at/think about/deal with. This is good energy for deep research, but also good energy to be manipulated - don't let yourself be talked into anything now - or to be obsessed with an idea or thought.

At the same time the Sun will square Chiron - the wounded healer and wounded healer doesn't mean healer of wounds, although it might, it means the healer IS wounded. With the Sun in Cancer now - there is probably something here about not feeling safe or not feeling mothered or cared for. It could be some tension around a home/family issue - a frustrating situation now could trigger a childhood wound/trauma.

A big week that kicks off a BIG ass-backwardsy summer! Back with some dailies.

xo all

New Moon in Gemini square Neptune | we don't know what we don't want to know, exposure, questions, choices, lies - changing our mind - listening before we speak, double checking EVERYTHING, tossing multiple ideas out there to see what sticks

the sandgiver by S-T-R-A-N-G-E

At 3:43PM EDT the Gemini Moon meets the Gemini Sun at 22 degrees bringing us our annual New Moon in Gemini.

Gemini is all about the movement of information and ideas.

Gemini is about choices and multiple anythings.

The expressions "more than one way to skin a cat" and "kill two birds with one stone" make my point here - although in a morbidly, Dexter-like, serial-killer style

(who the hell was doing all this cat skinning, bird stoning anyway - I don't even want to know where these expressions come from - although actually I probably do now that I think about it since it's Gemini season and all and I am CURIOUS and yes, now I am thinking about cats again and what curiosity holds for them - yikes).

There will be more than one thing to talk about now, more than one thing to do, more than one way forward.

With the Moon in Gemini answering to Mercury and Mercury in Cancer answering to the Moon both planets are strengthened now.

The fly in the ointment - if you like having choices - is a square to imaginative and deceptive Neptune strong in her home sign of Pisces.

Are these choices real? Is this information true? There is going to be alot to talk about and read and muddle our way through, but at the end of the day - or the end of the next six months when we reach the Full Moon in Gemini next December - will anything here amount to anything? It is hard to be sure. In fact, maybe it is not even possible to be sure of very much right now.

This New Moon - ruled by trickster Mercury - is like one giant flashing yellow light blinking at us "LOOK before you leap".

When I see Mercury square Neptune I think there us a LIE here somewhere. As my grandmother would say "something is fishy in Denmark" or maybe she would say rotten, but I can't bring myself to write that about Denmark!

And, of course, we have multiple Mercurian things playing out right now - how crazy-making for us and how appropriate for Gemini!

We had the Sun and Mercury connect just a week or so ago and square Neptune. I wrote about it HERE in a post titled "alice down the rabbit hole". Now we have the Sun and Moon connecting in Gemini - answering to Mercury - squaring Neptune again. They are past Neptune now.

So the LIE (or Neptunian situation - what is hidden or put away or done behind the scenes, behind our backs, behind closed doors, secrets, the ethereal realms, imagination, hospitals, spirituality, addiction, healing, illness, compassion) maybe started then - around June 6th -7th.

Something at best un-grounded or misguided and at worst deceptive was put into play.

Maybe there was something we glossed over and didn't want to look at too closely because we knew something we badly wanted to add up, just didn't. I know someone who had a botched medical procedure in a hospital. There are as many ways this could play out as there are stars in the sky.

And now in the dark of the New Moon, when the Moon has totally disappeared from view, something here that is no longer needed is probably going to disappear, too.  

Maybe it is the lie. Maybe one of the choices that was never real anyway. Maybe all of the choices because they were never real anyway. Maybe it is our rose-colored-glasses that .. oops .. land on the pavement and are pressed into concrete by the reality police. 

There could be something in play about making a decision through the process of elimination.

The other Mercurian storyline we have playing out now is we have Mercury opposing a retrograde Saturn at the end of this week. This takes us back to January when Mercury met Saturn in Capricorn and we were talking about being careful with our words/thoughts - that we were creating contracts.

So, at the end of this week we come to the closing sentences of one chapter and beginning sentences of another chapter of that story - a check-in date we had written into that contract.

Saturn sits across from Mercury and Saturn asks - "well, what have you done with this?" and then Saturn says "here is your karma, here is your result".

If we have done our work and what we said we would do (and this could have been something we told ourselves, of course) - stepped into our Saturn, lived up to our contract - we will be having a development now. Maybe something related to official paperwork or a career result. Maybe something related to home or family or the themes of our natal Cancer/Capricorn axis.

If we haven't been doing our Saturn or we set up a contract unconsciously - what will probably happen now is we will project our own Saturn onto someone else or some situation (authority/rules/limits) and they will be telling us what to do via a rule or limit, or telling us NO or whatever this tension/frustration is. If this is happening to us let's stop - and Saturn will force the stop - and think about how we ourselves have set this situation up - even when it might look like something is blocking us from the outside! Any space we are blaming the other person now we can be assured what is actually happening is we haven't taken on the responsibility ourselves.

If we like where we are right now, if we are in a good place and OK with what is happening it is because we did the right thing back in January or maybe we have taken seriously what we verbally or mentally set into motion back in January. If we aren't in a good place then the problem/situation we encounter now is designed to get us back on track - another spin of the cosmic dial, another chance to step into our responsibility and claim the authority for our own life. 

The good news - a new chapter is starting so what have we learned here?

For today - it is time to set our New Moon intentions!

There is extra oomph with the Mercury/Moon reciprocity and although there could be a tendency to drift off course with that Neptune or paint too pretty a picture - there is also something here to push against - squares get results!

One of the ways to use this New Moon - and the way I like to use it and I have a strong 3rd house (Gemini rules the 3rd house) - with Mercury, the Sun and Saturn there - is to toss multiple things out there - and see what takes off. With Gemini results are usually spotted rather quickly. It won't take long to see which ideas grow wings and which ideas fall to the ground!

(which is creating more dead bird imagery for me - I am going to take a long walk now! Ack!)

This New Moon in Gemini is all about communication so things might come up now that have us thinking about the way we get our point across, the way we present our ourselves, the way we show up and relate to other people and maybe most especially - with Mars on that South Node in Aquarius now - what we are a voice for.

GEMINI NEW MOON AFFIRMATIONS

This is a great time for affirmations for Gemini themes - movement, flexibility, wit, communication, logic, social graces and ease, siblings, local issues, teaching/learning, mental anxiety, areas of life where you are seeing double or encounter two choices or are doing two things at once, our nervous system, hands, wrists, arms, shoulders and our lungs AND the theme of your natal Gemini house.

AFFIRMATION TIPS: get into a good frame of mind - always make affirmations from a  positive place (meaning both happy and certain) - write your affirmations down by hand in script, speak them out loud - then release your attention from them knowing that your intention is known. Gemini is our first air sign of the year. I am going to speak them into the wind this year (a fan will do) and imagine my intentions flying far and wide, landing on the most fertile soil.

Know what you seek is seeking you (Rumi).

Know these things are already yours.

xo all