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

moon's bride II by prismes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sun into Pisces | keep it honest

oceanborn 1 by eirian

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

xo all

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

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

venus by ryan bater

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

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

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

We increase our ability to attract when we honor Venus.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

xo all

Venus in Aquarius | our values shift

friends by x---blackstars

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Another great day for production and communication!

xo all