muttering (and mothering) in the Maine woods ...

I spent a lot of time muttering to myself when we were in Maine last week (and eating ... and losing my gloves ... and eating ... and losing my gloves).

I caught myself, three or four times, actually speaking out loud and then looking around to see if anyone had heard me.

At first I thought "well, maybe I have things I need to say no one would want or need to hear" and my brain was kind of just reflexively spitting them out or I thought it was some kind of Full Moon madness since they say talking to yourself is the first sign

(Stalin and Hitler even passed laws to make it illegal).

But the more I thought about what I was rambling about (and I had the song Waterloo stuck in my head too, sometimes life is just not fair, folks) I came to the conclusion it was some kind of truth-talk squeezing past my inner scensors and when I thought about it even more I realized it was totally directed at myself (even when I appeared to be grumbling about something or someone else).

Mostly we think of stuff and then maybe we say it or maybe we write it down or maybe we just forget about it.We probably think a lot of the same stuff again and again.

Muttering is kind of the other way around - we think about it after we say it. Maybe it's like automatic writing (I tried that once, but gave up when my tea grew cold and my hand cramped up) or almost a kind of self-coaching.

In fact the word 'mutter' comes from the German for 'mother', so maybe this way of thinking isn't so crazy. Maybe when we mutter we are actually mothering ourselves.

Stay with me. (and yes, I muttered this part ... and sounded a lot like Rod Stewart when he was just the right amount of raspy - you're welcome)

We've got some interesting celestial aspects heading our way and synchronicities will appear if we are paying attention.

Muttering could be helpful in the sense it kind of connects us back to ourselves. For now I'm trying to listen to my mutter (in a mothering and not smothering way, staying open to the significance that maybe it is directed from me to me), paying attention to what I say under my breath and through clenched teeth, really hearing the words to that song I keep humming; trying to be loud and deliberate.

Maybe then it can settle down feeling listened to and understood. And I can get this damn Abba song out of my head .... xo all



At Waterloo Napoleon did surrender
Oh yeah
And I have met my destiny in quite a similar way
The history book on the shelf
Is always repeating itself
Waterloo - I was defeated, you won the war
Waterloo - Promise to love you for ever more
Waterloo - Couldn't escape if I wanted to
Waterloo - Knowing my fate is to be with you
Waterloo - Finally facing my Waterloo

My my
I tried to hold you back, but you were stronger
Oh yeah
And now it seems my only chance is giving up the fight
And how could I ever refuse
I feel like I win when I lose
Waterloo - I was defeated, you won the war
Waterloo - Promise to love you for ever more
Waterloo - Couldn't escape if I wanted to
Waterloo - Knowing my fate is to be with you
Waterloo - Finally facing my Waterloo

So how could I ever refuse
I feel like I win when I lose
Waterloo - I was defeated, you won the war
Waterloo - Promise to love you for ever more
Waterloo - Couldn't escape if I wanted to
Waterloo - Knowing my fate is to be with you
Waterloo - Finally facing my Waterloo

Weekend Update | Creativity Forecast for Creatives - Keep It Real, BITE Your Tongue (just a little love bite, don't gouge out a big chunk), Dream Big, Give it Your Best Shot

I am going away for a few days (YAY, Maine!) so thought I would do a quick update of the energies at play while I will be away.

We are finishing up that Mercury in Libra (communication, partners, equals, balance, art, love, women) square (think challenging here) Pluto In Capricorn (secrets, what's hidden, authority, structure).

We need to think communications through so we do not say something we will regret. There may not be any words that can get us where we want to go, so it might be best to just let things slide until next week with this. Note - I did not do this, spoke up about something yesterday and immediately regretted it. The scenario included every word I have used in italics (yes, I love italics!) in this paragraph and I knew we had an Aquarian Moon edging me toward rebellion and I still couldn't stop myself. My need for the truth won out even though I didn't.

Hopefully all of you handled/will handle things better.

(big breath)

On Sunday, we have something similar with Mercury opposing Uranus and inconjunct Chiron - so again we can step on some toes, there is opportunity here, but also the opportunity to hurt or get hurt. We could say the wrong thing. Venus is conjunct Jupiter (in Virgo) so our best moves still focus on VIRGO - do the work, make healthy choices, keep it grounded and real.

On Friday, the Sun moves into Scorpio (for sure, double Scorpio Hillary Clinton, will be taking no prisoners at the Benghazi hearings  - she's working with the same energies so she could say the wrong thing but something tells me she won't).

We all begin to burn Scorpio fuel and see what it feels like to be a Scorpio. Scorpio wants the truth and will not settle for any answer that is not at least a wee bit uncomfortable. The Scorpio area of our charts is where we all struggle for control. Facing fear is what Scorpio energy is born to do (we all have Scorpio in our charts, some of us more than others).

It's no coincidence Halloween is approaching!

Friday could be an intense day. Truth is messy. There is an uneasiness between just doing something and doing it right that requires adjustment. Safety doesn't win with these energies although not playing it safe can certainly backfire, too. Scorpio doesn't throw pink paint over problems and pretend they don't exist. Neither does Virgo. Throw these two energies together and we've got an overall vibe of authenticity. For better or worse.

Outcomes are never guaranteed and particularly not during Scorpio season. Just decide, then decide to not look back. Second guessing yourself is not allowed now (although again, if things can be pushed off until after next Tuesday when the energies calm down a bit, all the better). Also remember anything that is playing out that looks like it is all about them, is really all about us. It can be helpful to see it this way.

Venus conjuncts Jupiter on Sunday. There is opportunity for expansion here and an opposition to Chiron who is inconjunct with Uranus (there are advantages and disadvantage to having everything all balled up together in the skies) that cautions us to not take anything too far or expect too much. But if we use Virgo (Jupiter in Virgo is our go-to energy through next summer) to work out the details and fix what isn't working - we can use Jupiter to 'go for it' and Venus to 'have what we want'.

Fingers crossed for everyone here.

Personally, I always regret the road not taken more than the failure (although, yes, I regret the failure, too - I'm not a 'failure is my friend' kind of girl), know this about myself, so usually do the thing I see to do.

(and 9 times out of 10 it doesn't work, but maybe that 1 success is all we need anyway and the other 9 are just there for us to grow our muscles to handle the 1 - yes, that feels about right.)

The weekend could actually be quite lovely for all of us. 

Yoga / Meditation Bracelets - Lori Portka Art

This will get us through Tuesday. With so many planets in mutable signs the energy is great for juggling a whole bunch of stuff, not so great if we want to actually control any of the stuff we are juggling. We'll have to roll with things as they come up. We need to be adjustable. 

Just like my magnetic cuff bracelets with artist Lori Portka (warning shameless plug ahead) - have you seen these --->

Then next week we have a nice Full Moon in Taurus and things calm down a bit. Will write about that before then. Mid November lots of things shake loose including the south node finally moving out of Aries (since early 2014) and freeing Uranus to get whatever is stuck in our life moving. Where's Aries in your chart?

Have an amazing weekend everyone - need to get ALOT of work finished today! Hubs and I haven't taken a trip together in almost 3 years and even though this is only 4 days away, 7 hours from home and it will be COLD, we are EXCITED.

(for any peeps following my 'crash the party' story I will update it in the comments of the last post at lunch time - I hate when bloggers leave things hanging, although I realize I do this, too - don't hate me - it's almost as bad as Facebook people who post things like "such great news!!!" or "what the hell?!!" without any of us knowing what the hell they are talking about, drives me nuts)

xo all

Seeing the Forest AND the Trees - Weekly Astrology Wrap up for Creatives

"This burning…this longing…this shaky Aliveness. These are your only scriptures now. You are right on track." ... Matt Licata

autumn treeline by raceytay

If my regular weekly post was the forest (or one forest, we are all kind of walking through many forests at the same time), this mini addition will be the trees. Missing the trees means we plow headlong into .. well, trees - I guess. But not seeing the forest means that even seeing the trees (avoiding some, hugging others) doesn't actually get us anywhere.

So, here's this week's trees:

We are at the quarter moon - this is like - we've put the ball into play and it's out of our hands now. Not out of our hands forever, just out of our hands now. We have to trust the process and other people. It's a good time to let our minds be settled a bit with where things are going. This doesn't mean we are standing still, we are still moving forward and playing the game - we just can't control everything because the ball is not in our hands now (have I said that already?).

And if we are still holding the ball, because maybe we didn't set up that freakin' flock like I've been saying for the last two years (or maybe I should say team for this one) and have no one to pass the damn ball to - well, then just realize stuff is happening outside our control and we'll just set the ball down and stretch our back for a bit. We can stand up straighter now and see what everyone else is doing. Yes, those other people are still out there and yes,we still have time to gather a team (ie flock) for a hand-off, hand up, hand on our back.

For most of Tuesday we have a Capricorn Moon - this is a goal oriented, ambitious energy. Then in the late afternoon the Moon moves into Aquarius (this is where the other people come in) - it also goes void, so good productive energy, not good initiating energy. Let the stuff cook. Don't keep opening the oven door.

On Wednesday, Mercury in Libra squares Pluto in Capricorn for the third and final time. This could produce some intense and maybe uncomfortable conversations about issues we were dealing with in mid to late September. This will either wrap this stuff up or be some kind of final showdown. We've got Juno (asteroid) conjunct Mercury so there could be relationship loyalty and power issues here. Pluto will be pushing for the truth.

This can also play out as being asked to do things by people in authority we really don't want to do or people we don't want to listen to telling us things we don't want to hear. The Aquarius Moon will help us detach. Don't decide ahead of time what you are going to hear and what you are going to see because that will be what you hear and see. Go full Aquarius (the open minded genius/scientist here - not the rebel, not the criminal). But maybe try mouth shut, ears open and see what develops with that. Of course, Aquarians always say what they think, and we can do that, too - let's just listen first.

On Thursday, Venus in Virgo trines Pluto in Capricorn (brakes off). This trine strengthens Venus (love, money, values) by focusing us on what’s "correct" and/or what's practical. There will most likely be a woman involved here. Whatever this aspect touches for us will move smoothly.

Mars in Virgo will oppose Chiron (wounded healer), so some things, especially things that we are doing a bit obsessively (thank you Virgo) could backfire. Our actions can hurt others or we can be hurt by others' actions. There’s a need for some caution here.

On Friday, the Sun moves into Scorpio and we all dive a little (or a lot) deeper. More on this later in the week.

Note - the thing with dates and astrology is the dates I list are when aspects are exact. To get to be exact - planets and celestial bodies move toward and away from the exact point of contact. So although they are exact on a particular day, and really at a particular moment sometimes, we can feel them and they can activate stuff in our own charts, depending on the aspect, for days before and after.

xo all

Astrology Forecast for Creatives | Week of October 19th - make some kind of move

Last night, Mars joined Jupiter bringing energy, movement and initiating action to a

new 2 year cycle of work and health

and it plays into a forming T-square for extra potency for the next 12 months!

This cycle began to set-up when Jupiter moved into Virgo on August 10th - but between Venus retrograde, Mercury retrograde, Saturn moving from Scorpio into Sagittarius and eclipse season most of us have had too much old stuff on our plates, or slipping off our plates, to notice.

Now we will.

BEST CASE - two years from now we will be fulfilled through the development of a personally meaningful something or other that is of value to others and we'll be enjoying the best health of our lives.

WORST CASE - we'll learn big lessons from two years of endless busyness, perfectionist pit-stops, tasks that have no personal meaning and we'll gain another ten pounds (or worse). This is definitely not the time to still be smoking.

We win or we learn. Or we win and we learn - yeah, let's do that.

Besides kicking off a new two year story with Jupiter (in Virgo) Mars' movement activates a T-square (when points in opposition also form a square with another point). A T-square enables drive and courage but can also create tension and conflict. Natal T-square people are very active. You know that go-getter who packs 30 hours into every 24 hour day and makes us want to take a nap - well, I guarantee she has one. Cardinal T-squares can be very impatient, but also enterprising and initiating. Fixed T-squares don't quite, but are also stubborn and they can hold on to problems for too long. Mutable T-squares are restlessness and change their minds too often, but are great at adapting to changing circumstances.

Last week we had Mars squaring Saturn and opposing Neptune, now he joins Jupiter and these 3 planets (Jupiter, Neptune and Saturn) give us the T-square we will all be working with for the next year. This will play out in our Sagittarius, Pisces and Virgo houses (check your natal chart). This is my 2nd, 4th and 10th houses (so basically money and values, home and work). If you want to know the space this story will run through in your own chart just contact me.

Until mid November we are still in the "dreaming it" stage - this time would be best spent with visioning and detailed planning. Let's use this Virgo focus and attention to detail while we have access to it (the Sun changes signs at the end of the week). Lists are our friend now. Virgo energy sometimes doesn't want to compete unless they know they can win or they don't compete because then they will have to do it really well again - if you are feeling anything like this right now, push through it.

From mid November (when Saturn comes into play) foundations get built. In January and February there is a pause in the action as things slow and separate and then March thru November 2016 we build the dream.

This dream doesn't have to be some big, ginormous dream. It just has to be ours. We need to be working from our hearts with this. If anything special was happening around May 2000 (check your Taurus house) there will be aspects that relate to that time period. Stuff will happen with or without our full participation, attention and intention, but the best way to use astrology is to make the best use of transits as intentionally as we can.

After the Uranus Pluto Square power struggle story we've all been working through, this new chapter is a welcome change.

This week with Mars (action, initiative) and Jupiter (good luck, expansion) bumping together it's a good time for some kind of initiatory action. Make some kind of move. Ambition is a good thing. I'm crashing an event I wasn't invited to - more on this later in the week. Then I'm going away for a couple days to recuperate from the stress of it all (me and public events are going together like peanut butter and mayonnaise these days - yes, that yummy).

Anyhoo, I'll try to get back to do the Moons and daily aspects tomorrow - there is lots of other stuff going on, but if we let this T-square happen without our intentional participation we will regret it, I promise ... plus I need tonight to plan my wardrobe and practice not sounding like I've been practicing .... and like maybe I was actually invited. xo all