New Moon Solar Eclipse in VIRGO | September 12th-13th - minding and mining the details

"Put light against light - you have nothing. Put dark against dark - you have nothing. It’s the contrast of light and dark that each give the other one meaning." ... Bob Ross

Eclipses are super charged New Moons. They often mark major turning points (when aspecting our natal chart) and they almost always have a sense of finality connected to them.

Whatever ends during eclipse season is surely gone for good.

Some people, maybe 20%, experience an eclipse 30 days before or after the actual event often almost to the exact day. But, most events occur within the new moon's 2 week window.

This one is a partial eclipse so not as bright, but it lasts for almost 4 1/2 hours which translates to events that play out over the next 4 1/2 years - it's energy will be with us for a while.

If you have any natal planets 18-22 degrees of the mutable signs - Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces or Gemini - you will feel this eclipse most strongly.

We are are like computers being turned off and on when the skies go dark and the program that uploads at restart is a little bit (or quite a lot) different than the one we ran on before. Eclipses change us and we (vibrating differently) change our circumstances by attracting or repelling what our new self lines us with.

Although solar eclipses are new moons and have themes of newness we can't have a beginning without an ending! Sometimes the ending is all we feel with this stuff. So, even when we are soaked in mourning for what has ended and we aren't consciously starting something new, the very fact that something/someone is no longer in our life means we are in a new beginning.

Opposing Chiron (the wounded healer) in Pisces - something about this new moon maybe exposes a weakness - maybe something that cannot be fixed. It's inconjunct Uranus so we need to stay sharp and ready to pivot and think on our feet - changes can come out of nowhere with this one. If some opportunity comes up that we are not quite ready for can we allow ourselves to just jump in, knowing everything might not be exactly perfect but trusting there is perfection in the imperfection. Can we trust that we really are ready? Can we trust that what we have to offer is what is needed?

Let's try not to make things big and important in our head and over analyze things (and yes, I realize you may be going through some big and important things) - let what it going to happen happen. Our dial is turned up. Our only job is to be real and authentic. We only have to be ourselves.

This is one of a series of eclipses on the Pisces/Virgo axis. We can also look at the past to see when we had similar degree events and see how they connect with what is happening now. We had a solar eclipse at 19 degrees Virgo in September 2007 and Saturn went retrograde at 22 degrees Virgo in December 2008. Jupiter stationed retrograde at 19 Virgo in January 2004 - think about these dates if stuff is hitting you now.

This weekend's eclipse is at 20 degrees Virgo (the Sun and Moon are both at 20 degrees Virgo) - my brother has Jupiter at 20 degrees Virgo in his 10th house of career in his natal chart. We can't wait (well, maybe he can!) to see how this plays out for him over the next few months as 20 degrees Virgo is triggered by transitting planets (my natal Virgo is 22 degrees in my 10th house, so we'll see how this shows up for me, too). You can check your chart here or email me and I will check!

(Interesting update - Serena Williams with a 20 degree Jupiter in Virgo just lost the U.S. Open in a stunning upset!)

Given a Solar Eclipse is a New Moon, then like all lunations that work their influence over time, it triggers events related to previous celestial events and is triggered by subsequent transits to those points.

So whatever activates with this Solar Eclipse will re-activate when Mars and then Venus transit 20 degrees Virgo in late October then will expand in some way when Jupiter hits 20 degrees Virgo in late November, again in February 2016, and for the final time in July 2016. This is all part of the journey called life on planet Earth. We signed up for it. We will get through it.

It's no coincidence the refugee crisis has finally reached a breaking point and is all over the news. It will not be ignored now. The Virgo/Pisces axis teaches compassion and the lessons of "the other who is our brother". What we learn and how we allow the lessons to change us is up to us. We can grow harder and more brittle, breaking off pieces of our humanity until eventually we look in the mirror and do not even recognize the person we have become or we can grow softer and more resilient.

Seeing Germans welcome "the other" from trains with such compassion, not knowing how they are going to make this work or what the future holds for anyone, but just working with love and releasing decades of fear, is truly pushing our entire collective toward the best use of this energy. There is a new frequency of "effortless plenty" rising now - we need to focus on what is growing and not on the walls that contain it - the walls are an illusion.

Individually we can use the positive qualities of this axis to move forward with whatever we are facing now - (Virgo) work, precision. accuracy, maintenance, taking care of our health, service to others, doing the work without expecting credit, accepting there is not always a relationship between effort and outcome and making the effort anyway and (Pisces) showing compassion, knowing there is only one of us here, dreaming, using our creativity and intuition.

We can avoid the negative energies of this axis (Virgo) perfectionism, nitpicking, nagging, setting ourselves apart, being overly critical and losing the big picture (Pisces) escapism, gloom, laziness, getting enmeshed in the big picture and losing track of the details

One final note - if you have any planets around 29 degrees Scorpio, Taurus, Leo or Aquarius - that's where taskmaster Saturn has been taking his stay-cation, I would imagine some area of your life is feeling mighty squeezed right now. He moves on in 6 days, you can count on it.

Also remember our flock - people often ask me how to make more money with their Etsy store and what they really need is more people - in their lives, businesess and SHOPPING with them. I am going to do a post about this next week. The people come first. Where's your flock? What do they need? It's our job to connect to others who value us.

Remember this is still a New Moon in Virgo so set your intentions and make your affirmations for Virgo themes for the best outcomes - health, quality over quantity, service to others, attention to details, work, co-workers, employees, day to day activities, cleaning, organizing, pets.

INTENTION TIPS: let the earth guide you this month, plant your feet firmly on the ground, clear your head, write what your physical self, grounded by the earth, wants not what you think you should write, write your intentions down by hand in script on a blank piece of paper, speak the words out loud, burn the paper, give the ashes back to the earth - release your attention from these things knowing your intention is known. Life has heard you. Do what is in front of you.

Next week is huge for everyone and we are about to be eclipsed ... today's a Balsamic Moon, get some rest. xo all

Astrology Forecast for Creatives | Week of September 7th - touched by magic ....

"When you’re touched by magic, nothing’s ever quite the same again. What really makes me sad is all those people who never have the chance to know that touch. They’re too busy, or they just don’t hold with make-believe so they shut the door without really knowing it was there to be opened in the first place."   ... Charles de Lint, "What the Mouse Found and Other Stories”

We've got multiple focuses this week.

Venus moved direct on Sunday, September 9th after her 40 day(?) retrograde in Leo. She will move forward slowly so it may take a few days for things to ramp back up for everyone and we may be a little slow to get our bearings, but we are definitely moving on and we will be ready to make new choices and welcome the new ideas and opportunities we will be moving toward!

This retrograde has asked us to go within and explore what motivates us and compels us to share and be seen - what do we really value? what do we want to give? what do we want to receive?

Now that Venus has her groove back decisions we made regarding Venus themes of - love, money, beauty and women - during the last few weeks are up for review, yes again.

What we do with what we have learned and what has played out for us is mostly up to us (as always).

When she FINALLY leaves Leo and moves on to zero degrees Virgo on October 9th we will be decided with this stuff. We don't want to push too hard to make things happen just yet. Let's continue to let this stuff (especially the old stuff that has reincarnated itself) unroll itself. This is also almost the exact date the upcoming Mercury retrograde will end (October 10th) so mark your calendar for full steam ahead then.

MONDAY and TUESDAY (Tuesday is another trigger date for the upcoming solar eclipse so you may have some ending or something big happening then) are get-it-done days.

With the Moon in Cancer on Monday a focus on home and family (and self-nurturing, yes, that hammock and glass of wine are effective uses of your time now) are supported.

Mid week we have something that came to our attention from two weeks ago that now needs action.

A trine from Mars in Leo to Uranus in Aries on TUESDAY and WEDNESDAY's Leo Moon are great creative energy - sparks of genius will be flying that could take a project in a new direction or turn it from average to amazing.

It could also be a great hookie day with the kids or our love or some kind of recreation. With Uranus there will be an element of the unexpected to whatever we do and all this fire could have our passions sparked  - watch out for actual fire though!

Something could also return our attention to Scorpio themes - we only have a few more days with Saturn in Scorpio (YAY!) - this means sex, divorce, financials, a partner's money, child support, inheritance, mortality, reproduction, or third party situations - if this is you, this is not a good hookie day.  

Let's finish this stuff.

On WEDNESDAY/ THURSDAY Mercury in Libra squares Pluto in Capricorn so we may hear some news that is hard to hear or our own words may be challenged - this aspect also gives us the ability to penetrate to the very core of a matter or problem. Long lasting solutions could follow. We could also discover information that wasn't meant to be uncovered. Will we speak up or avoid conflict? Watch for power struggles mid-week..

September and October are, like August, big visioning energy. What's our dream? In November and December Saturn will help us (maybe with his boot to our back) - to begin - progress will be visible. January and February will be a little hibernation period, I suggest we stay warm and snuggled up by the fire with a hot chocolate and Agatha Christie paperback (so soothing to me somehow, I'm not sure why) and then March to July we build the damn thing.

This will involve our Virgo, Pisces and Sagittarius houses. We should know our Virgo house by now - if not email me or find it on astro.com - our Pisces (that's where dreamy Neptune is hanging out) and our Sagittarius (expansive Jupiter) houses are all the spaces we will be growing this thing!

September will be hectic and next spring will be HECTIC (isn't it odd how writing in all caps makes the spelling look wrong, visual memory I guess) so with all this Virgo energy right now it is an excellent time to focus on ourselves and our health - make the time for ourselves, make it sacred and unalterable now. We can't just pencil ourselves in anymore or use that disappearing ink - it's permanent marker time now people, etch it in stone or we will burn ourselves out before we even get this thing started.

Stilling our minds, moving our bodies and eating clean will create steady and long term results for us now. It's Virgo season. We can use this practiced, efficient, precise energy or be used by it. There is always something to be done ... or undone.

I'll do an eclipse post before this weekend, this month is BIG - and yes, obviously, I'm still here. xo

Astrology Forecast for Creatives | Week of August 31st - New Directions, Focus Adjustments and Cutting Our Losses

"My wish for you is that you continue. Continue to be who and how you are, to astonish a mean world with your acts of kindness. Continue to allow humor to lighten the burden of your tender heart." ... Maya Angelou

I have been thinking about giving this blog a rest (and yes, by rest I mean a nice walnut box with a red velvet liner about 6 feet in the ground).

Having been told for months, years maybe, (when did my blog take this astrological turn, it's hard to remember and even harder to search the backend of blogger to figure it out), that it isn't a good idea for a jewelry designer and maker to talk about this stuff so often.

It hurts my SEO (which I rarely think about probably because acronyms have always annoyed me for some reason), my credibility, my right elbow, my left toe - you get the idea. And now with so much happening astrologically in September and October I am afraid I might not have the time or skill set to do it all justice.

This will be the last weekly forecast then I'll likely go back to timely "bigger picture" business/personal posts with a magical, astrological bent. I'm a bit up in the air about it. For this week, we'll take a lesson from Maya and continue on!

Anyhoo ....

Lots of ending, releasing and new beginning energy again this week. Last week the Sun went into Virgo so details matter, little things are big things now. We are working our way through these last moments of summer - lots of water aspects - tears, sweat - we are feeling everything.  There is this "where are we going?", "what are we doing?" energy we are working our way through.

On Monday we are wrapping something up. We have an Aries Moon, so will probably want our own way with whatever we are working through, of course so will everyone else. Monday's aspects trigger the Full Moon Lunar Eclipse that happens at the end of September so we may feel like something has to end or we are reaching or reaching for some new height and are willing to 'eclipse' something or someone out to reach some achievement or reach for something we want.

On Tuesday and Wednesday we have Venus meeting up with Mars in Leo. This is excellent energy to meet someone new, start a new job, launch something. Yes, Venus is still retrograde for a couple more days, but when the Goddess of love and money meets up with the God of  action, opportunities that come up are most likely opportunities to take. Taking action to get what we want is favored here.

This is the second of three conjunctions between Venus and Mars in 2015. The first conjunction (the third week of February at 1 degree Aries) offered a new beginning where actions (Mars) combine with our wants or love or money (Venus). This week's conjunction as Venus prepares to move direct (14 degrees Leo) is an assessment of what started then. When Venus stations direct on Sunday, assessment time will be over and things will move forward.

The final conjunction will be on November 2nd (Virgo 24 degrees) and will wrap up this Venus/Mars cycle. Wants are materialized. What actions do we take to get what we want? This cycle is about our relationships, our values and self esteem, our money and/or our creativity.

On Friday Jupiter will be pushing us to go bigger with something.  On Sunday Venus moves direct and whatever we have been working through since she went retrograde in late July will move forward as she does. This is a reconnecting week - if we broke up with something or someone over this Venus retrograde period - that can come back up for another looksie as she moves over the same degrees she touched earlier in the summer - this doesn't mean a reconciliation is 'meant to be' if your ex suddenly pops up in the coffee shop or if an idea you let go of is suddenly in the news - it's just energy that is moving forward - forward can bring us back together with someone or something or just move us on up and away

(did you maybe notice how rude that ex is being as he orders his tall non-fat latte with the caramel drizzle or feel how that idea you let go that is suddenly all the rage still brings a pit to your stomach when you think about actually doing it).

As Venus stations we might feel a need to 'do something' about that relationship issue - we can really just let it all unfold. Venus wants acknowledgement and so will we. On September 6th our new flock assembles.

Mercury has entered his shadow so all the stuff that is going on right now is the stuff we will be dealing with while Mercury is retrograde in the coming weeks. Mercury is in Libra and hitting our North Node (future) so lots of job offers for lots of people who have been looking and that continues now as Mercury rolls through the upcoming eclipse degrees. If you want something put yourself out there for it.

Things are about to change, yes again, so take this time to think about what you want and that new dream we are hatching! The upcoming eclipses will take whatever anxiety and crap we have littered our past year with that has spread over into the rest of the house and clean it up .... xo all

FULL MOON in Pisces August 29th | happiness comes in like salty water

photography by vena

On Saturday we have the first of three Super Full Moons to usher us into eclipse season.

With our Sun in Virgo, we know the Full Moon will be in Virgo's polarity sign of Pisces.

Pisces and Virgo are opposite signs, but really the opposite sides of the same coin. The balance of these two signs is where we bring God (or whatever word you feel most comfortable using here) to earth through our actions of service.

Pisces; the mutable water sign is the archetype of the mystic, the dreamer, the visionary and the compassionate (also the addict, the escapist, the pessimist). Pisces beckons us to look inside, to use our intuition, to feel our connection. Pisces sun people need to meditate everyday (well, we all do) to empty themselves of all the crap they have collected from everywhere or they will become very spacey and forgetful.

(and if you are a Pisces thinking your absentmindedness is a character flaw - no, this is a just a condition of not being true to your mystical archetype - you must spend time in quiet everyday - I'm not a Pisces Sun but have Neptune in my first house and find this true for me also - when I get busy and don't take the time to get quiet and go within, I start misplacing and losing things very quickly)
 
Neptune, the planetary ruler of Pisces, and the mythical God of the Sea has been in his home sign since 2011 (and will be hanging out until 2026) - this is powerful energy for collective change and awakening.

How does water change things? Water dissolves. Water washes away. Water erodes. Water suffocates. Neptune rules spirituality and dreaming. Neptune rules creativity and inspiration. Neptune rules illusion and escape. Neptune rules water and the sea, drugs and hospitals.

The last time Neptune was in Pisces we saw the abolitionist movements to end slavery in the United States and to free the serfs in Russia. This is powerful energy for the release of victim consciousness. This transit of Neptune has again put issues of injustice and inequality on our collective radar (a spotlight on refuge and immigration issues, the black lives matter movement, etc) - the ways we blame the other and refuse to look at our own shadows. Pisces dissolves boundaries - we can more easily see and feel the ways we are the same. The unifying forces of Neptune and Pisces remind us that "there is only one of us here" is not some crazy bumper sticker but the way the universe actually works!

This transit will increase our sensitivity to toxins and our focus on water. Escapist activities like drugs and the internet will expand (basically anything that is pleasurable and repeatable). Neptune in Pisces wants to feel everything.

Saturn, preparing to move into Sagittarius for the next two years is going to be squaring Neptune in Pisces popping some dream bubbles and bringing us down to earth. Whether we end up disappointed or transcending our previous limits depends on our chart and the other influences hitting it. Some will be able to make the magic happen and some will have a rude awakening. Not everything is possible, and not everything belongs to us. For those indulging in escapism, denial or addiction, this square will be especially harsh. Mutable signs (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces) will feel this. For people born with Neptune in Sagittarius (1970-1984) at some point over the next two years Saturn will conjunct your natal Neptune - the dreams and fantasies you've been carrying will be questioned and addictions and vulnerabilities exposed. This is just how life works - the ebb and flow of things - sometimes we're the windshield and sometimes we're the bug kind of thing.

There is nothing to fear here. Sometimes Neptune takes us down the wrong path, and Saturn is our course correction. Saturn can focus our dream and give us traction. Sometimes traction comes in the form of our back against the wall giving us something to push off from. This might manifest as the lack of something essential. Then our discomfort will push us to do something else.  

Sometimes the Neptune vision needs limits to manifest.

FOR NOW we have this loving and compassionate FULL MOON asking us to embrace the positives of Pisces - compassion, imagination and our highest vision for ourselves and use the energy of the Virgo Sun - precision, work without rewards, craftsmanship, service, putting our dreams into words, speaking our truth - to move everything forward.

This is an excellent healing moon. Walk in it. Be near water. Take a bath.

It's a powerful time to be mindful of what we have worked for and created and be grateful for the process (Virgo). It's a time to recognize our ability to dream (Pisces) a different world - to be a difference in the well-being and evolution of the planet. xo all