BIZ Astrology for Monday, September 1st - Happy Labor Day

aimee ferre print

The Moon (and our emotions) moves out of the depths of Scorpio and into Sagittarius today (after being void a couple hours around lunchtime EST).

This Scorpio period won't be repeated with these same aspects for a long time. It has been asking us to be sure about what we want to expand our heart into - to look deep. Some memories and emotions may have been triggered over the past weekend that need to be looked at this morning. "Looking at" doesn't mean "holding onto" - we can process this junk right out of our life now if we want to. Our Virgo Sun loves to clean closets after all!

Neptune has cleared the Sun so clearer thinking for decision making - depending on our own chart, some decisions may have to wait for Saturn next month.

We have a T-Square with Neptune and the Sun, Mercury finishing up in Virgo, so lots of stimulation, new ideas and opportunities. Lots of shifting energies in the week ahead. Have some fun this afternoon with that Sagittarius Moon  - think adventure with this one, but remember we are accountable for our actions now.

Mercury moves into Libra tomorrow where he will spend most of the month. This will trigger some excellent aspects for artists and entrepreneurs to communicate, speak, write, sell, sign on the dotted line, pitch proposals, field offers or embark on something with and through other people, especially relationships with women.

Makings and businesses geared to women will also get extra support. Be open to collaboration (see the right side of my blog for the free handouts from a class I taught last year) and maybe a little constructive criticism now (sometimes it is easier for others to see something we have overlooked) - if we are the one giving the criticism let's temper it with praise.

Plus we have Venus moving into Virgo on Friday giving us another great business aspect and more support in these areas - this is a good time for resolving co-worker issues and problems with any small animals in our lives.

Communications with romantic or business partners, agents, attorneys, specialists, clients, competition (rivals not enemies here) and other important relationships will go smoother now.

Mercury will be retrograde for most of next month (October) and we have that organized Virgo sun, so let's use this energy productively now.

Lots of aspects this week for the kids to have a great back to school week and lots of aspects for us to get work done. There are financial and intimacy opportunities all month. Long range business planning is favored now.

October is eclipse season and some of us will get a glimpse (as early as this week, but maybe around the 10th) of what will be 'eclipsed' out of our life next month. This isn't scary stuff - these kind of changes are well-supported. This is the stuff we signed up for.

xo all

BIZ Astrology for Friday August 29th - last holiday weekend of the summer!

peanut oak print

Friday is a nice day (duh!) - the Moon is still in Libra until noon and then goes void - there is a feel good quality to the energy (and, for many of us, having a holiday Monday doesn't hurt!).

With the Sun opposite Neptune in Pisces there is an opportunity for real intimacy this weekend, but if we do not hold firm to our personal values and have boundaries in place for ourselves we can end up sacrificing what is most important to us for someone else.

Let's not let that happen. Situations and ideas can appear better than they are now.

Any big decisions will need a second or third look - time to check in with our heart and also check in with our head. Does this make sense? Once the Sun clears Neptune on Sunday things will be clearer. See if those plans still hold water next week. We will feel a real push then toward the things we are supposed to create.

The best way to work with this Neptune energy is to respect it with our actions - get in the water, get lost in a daydream, work a spiritual practice, write some poetry. Feed him his daily dose of imagination and vastness. This is the last holiday weekend of the summer - let's enjoy it!

This weekend the Moon goes into Scorpio and aligns nicely with Neptune. This is excellent energy for efforts we make behind closed doors.

Saturday night will highlight a square to Jupiter so it feels like some extreme emotional changes. Caution is needed. Check ourselves. No flying off the handle. We may be given an opportunity to work through some feelings like envy or jealousy. Don't stuff it.

Negative emotions (if we don't stuff them with ice cream - clear your freezer now!) give us the opportunity to ask ourselves "what is it I believe that is creating this feeling?" - often it is something like "there isn't enough for me" or "I am not safe" or 'I am not enough".

Then ask ourselves "what would I have to believe to let this belief go?" - so then some opposite belief forms our affirmation. So we start an affirmation practice with something like "I am always safe and supported" or "There is always enough for me."

Affirmations are powerful tools. If practiced regularly they are like exercise - they must work when we actually do them. We don't have to do our affirmation and then take action. The affirmation is the action. Physical changes will work through us once we expose, accept, expand and release the negative belief. Our higher consciousness has already chosen. The Moon is a waxing crescent now and will support our plans to grow.

xo all

BIZ Astrology for Thursday August 28th - appreciating and expanding our relationships

happy letter shop - sunshine print

The Moon is in the balanced and tactful partnership sign of Libra today with friendly aspects to Jupiter in Leo - she is looking to expand our relationships.

What is the best way to do this? Think sandbox etiquette now. Play nice, share, don't bite. With Leo this expansion comes from our generosity and appreciation of others.

With the Sun in Virgo the small details matter - so showing someone they are loved and appreciated with a cup of joe, a grateful email or a kind word goes a long way today.

The Moon squares Pluto at the end of the day so anyone with hurt feelings about being left out (including us) at that time, probably needs a little extra appreciation (even if we feel like wringing their neck) - no coddling though, with our grounded Virgo Sun everyone has the ability to put their own feet on solid ground now.

The Moon opposes Uranus in Aries so this is the emotional test of finding harmony while taking action - how do we find peace in less than peaceful situations .... if an unexpected opportunity comes our way due to an ending or someone leaving today - we should probably grab it.

It we can't get what we want now - let's try something else. Jupiter gets a little testy if what we want are conventional ideas of success that are not part of our life purpose. Our intuition can guide us with this.

Jupiter also reminds us not to ask for too little. Some energies can only be engaged when we over-reach! The Virgo Sun encourages baby steps, but to get Jupiter's attention we need our own enthusiasm and heartfelt exuberance activated!

The Sun is starting its big opposition to Neptune which is kind of a checkpoint for us to see if we are on track. We'll talk about this tomorrow - also see last night's post about Neptune's current long transit.

Mercury is in Virgo which is his home space - but he does create this energy where we pick up every little detail and it can feel like too much. Communicate responsibly now.

xo all

Neptune in Pisces - the power and problems with being unbounded

lupen grainne photograph

The immense power of water - 70% of our human bodies and 70% of our earth's surface! Water changes things gradually over time and also in an instant.

When my mother was very ill with emphysema, sometime during the last few months of her life, she was released from a hospital (one of many hospital stays) but was not ready to come home.

She went into a rehab facility where they primarily worked with adults recuperating from accidents and where they were totally unequipped to help her. Her second day in rehab they wheeled her exhausted, tiny body attached to her oxygen tank into a wheelchair sized shower stall, turned on the water and she had her first actual shower in years.

I arrived just as she was getting back to her room and she looked exactly like our fluffy white cat when she had been caught in a rainstorm - hair plastered to her head, white as a ghost, shivering and totally exhausted. I was very angry and certain they had just given her pneumonia.

I helped her from the wheelchair into her bed where she slept for 16 hours and woke up more clear headed and less frightened than she had been in months and was basically a different person until her death a few months later.

Native American culture would throw a wayward man into the sea and tell him to call back his spirit.

(Hubs and I wanted to do this with his brother David a couple years ago and had serious conversations about how we could do it, without him drowning or us going to jail - I still regret we never had the chance!)

We have all heard the story of Pavlov's dogs (ring a bell?), but the ending to this story is not so well known. When there was a flood in the Russian scientist's laboratory none of his surviving dogs retained any trace of their conditioning.

This is the power of water to create a life changing disruption.

The New Moon this week was the first New Moon since the mid-1800's where the New Moon triggered an opposition to Neptune in Pisces. This opposition will likely show up over the next two weeks in the form of another person (this sometimes shows up as a process).

This can be a good thing or a not so good thing (sometimes this person shows up as someone who is deceptive or addicted or ungrounded). Whatever happens we probably won't be able to miss it.

Neptune is a slow moving outer planet. He rules over the watery realm of our dreams, imagination, intuition, creativity and compassion and inspires us with art, music, poetry and spirituality .

He also rules addiction, distraction, escapism, self-deception, vagueness, obscurity, unrealistic desires, illusion, confusion, intrigue and lies.

He moved into Pisces late in 2011 then sauntered back to Aquarius for a few weeks and has now been steadily in Pisces since February 2012. He will be here until 2025. So, we have Neptune the God of the Sea, governing water and dreams, in the watery, dreamy sign he rules (Pisces).

This is a whole lot of water for us to navigate - we all need scuba masks now!

Check your natal chart to see where Pisces was hanging out when you were born because that house is where you will feel this current transit. In addition, using Pisces house 1, Aquarius house 2, etc we can work our way around the astrological wheel with your Sun sign and see where else he will affect us. This sounds confusing and maybe it is - hit the LET'S CHAT button on the right with your birth date and time and I will work this out for you privately!

This is good information to have. This is the space in our life where we can dive in, but must build boundaries and safety nets so we don't get in over our heads. For example people with their Sun in Aquarius can make money through creative ventures, but just as easily lose it through carelessness or deception. If you are an Aquarius - a person you can make money with creatively or lose money through can enter your life now. This also applies to anyone born with Pisces in their 2nd house.

I have Pisces in my natal 4th house - which rules home among other things - and when Neptune moved into Pisces in February 2012 - hubby's brother (with addiction and mental illness), a walking talking Neptune in Pisces moved into our extra bedroom. I also got back into astrology again, much more intuitively now, after several years away from it which I do from home and since I work at home making jewelry my creativity has greatly increased along with, unfortunately, a distractibility and tendency toward depression I never had before. Boundaries around 4th house issues have become extremely important to me.

When we make time for dreaming, for poetry, for gazing at the moon, Neptune promises us in return he will offer up crisp focus when needed. He always reminds us we are much bigger than our current circumstances.

If anyone wants a personal heads up with this aspect just let me know.