Saturn square Neptune | there's that wall again

up against the wall by gnato

Saturn square Neptune is THE transit of 2016. It permeates everything.

And because of the retrograde of Saturn and Neptune this year - we get multiple exact hits (days when the planets are sitting exactly square each other) and they stay close enough (to exact) to have an impact for most of the year. If it's not impacting you personally, it's impacting other people who are impacting you. And it's impacting the wider world in very big ways.

The first exact square was November 26th - both planets were direct at that time. The next exact square is June 17th (next Friday) with both Saturn and Neptune retrograde and the final exact square is September 10th.

Between this square (dreams vs. reality) that is affecting everyone to some degree and the Mutable T-Square that gets re-triggered today by the Moon that is giving a particularly challenging (and out of balance) time to people born in the middle degrees of the mutable signs - those born in the first few days of March, June, September and December - times are challenging If that is you, again, find mid Gemini in your natal chart and try to focus what energies you can into that area (area of life ruled by the house occupied by your natal Gemini) for balance. This isn't an easy transit. The ability to stay flexible and adapt to changes is crucial.

We have challenging cycles for people born in the mid 60's, late 70's and early 80's (and many people are having challenging life cycle transits now, too). "It's all good, just go shopping" isn't cutting it anymore. If you are not being hit by any of these transits then it is your job to help those who are.

Anyhoo, back to Saturn vs. Neptune - I want to talk about the ways this can be showing up for people. I've written over and over again "dreams vs. reality" and that's it all boiled down, but there are many, many ways this can play out. Bottom line - we are all being charged with finding more effective ways to live. 

Let's look at some possibilities - and no, I'm not going to have any answers. There aren't answers right now. That's kind of the point.

With another exact match up between Neptune and Saturn at the end of next week (both planets will be retrograde by then) we will be going back and examining either Neptune (the dream) or Saturn (the commitment).

Is the dream possible? And I don't mean pie in the sky thinking here. Get quiet. Is it possible? We need to get real with ourselves. Are we dreaming our life away? Here there is a need for structure (the wall) to "stop" our meandering (boundary-less) energy.

or

Is the commitment real? Does it still make sense? Is what we strongly believe being continually tested? Do these rules, these walls, these limits, these beliefs - really work anymore? Are we working our life away? Here there is a need for a more charitable or maybe more imaginative way of being to "dissolve" our rigidity (wall).

Either way, yes, there could be grieving (Neptune) and pain (Saturn) for what we lose here.

Many people are actually manifesting into reality (making real with Saturn) walls and road blocks by the dreams (beliefs) they put into motion years and even decades ago. Choices we made subconsciously long ago are being given actual physical form here. These may not be choices we would make now.

I have a natal Neptune/Saturn square and it's part of a fixed t-square. I have come to know these energies pretty well. The key is always for our values (what we really care about) and ambitions (what we are working for) to be reinforcing each other - that will give us the strength to hold our focus under pressure. This is not about us giving up on the dream.

Ultimately this transit is teaching us about making the dream real (although I hesitate to write that because some people's big picture dreams need to come down to earth so we can work the practical steps to make them happen). We'll talk more about this as we move through it.

By October we'll have this figured out, I promise. We are on the far side of "normal" times, but maybe normal is highly overrated anyway. xo all

Astrology Forecast for Creatives | Week of June 6th - Venus delivers the goods

little voice by moonywolf

You might remember last summer (why does last summer feel like 10 years ago to me?) Venus had a nice long retrograde. We were all figuring out, by working backward, what we really value and how to align ourselves, going forward, with that.

At one point during that cycle, mid August 2015, Venus was conjunct the Sun at 22 degrees Leo (sitting in the same space as the Sun). We talked about a new cycle kicking off - building our new dream.

(an update on our dream later this week!)

This also closed out the previous Venus cycle which started back in January 2014, kicked off a new 8 year cycle for our Leo house and closed out the previous Leo house cycle from 2007.

Venus, planetary ruler of women, love, relationships, money, resources and self-esteem, has a cycle with the Sun with phases similar to the Moon.

If Venus was the Moon, the cycle we kicked off last summer (mid August) would have been her New Moon phase (in Venus speak called her inferior conjunction/morning star phase); it was a launching point.

And like the New Moon, where stuff begins in the dark - things started slowly and didn't really kick up until the end of October when, at 16 degrees Virgo, Venus was conjunct the Sun again and we were in her initiated phase and things were "full steam ahead".

This week, at 13 degrees Gemini, Venus hooks up with the Sun again and reaches her superior conjunction - if she were the Moon this would be her Full Moon phase where the energy peaks.

(note - at the end of March 2017, when Venus hooks up with the Sun at 4 degrees Aries, this current cycle will conclude and a new cycle will kick off, a 19 month Venus cycle and a new 8 year cycle for our Aries house)

So MONDAY is the Full Moon phase of the current Venus cycle.

With Venus conjunct the Sun in Gemini this is a time of OPPORTUNITY (yes, for our Gemini house but also our Leo house that launched this cycle and for those Venus themes I mentioned earlier), good news, payoffs and yes, culminations. This could be about us receiving news and opportunities from the current cycle and also about attracting what we want (Venus) by the information/communication (Gemini/Mercury) we put out (Sun).

This also ends the Gemini cycle that began in June 2008 (and we can continue back in eight year increments to get a feel of what these cycles have looked like for us previously) and starts a new cycle in our Gemini house! Whew, I know this probably sounds confusing. Stay with me.

Venus' cycles pertain to Venus things - love, money and self-esteem. If we have planets or points near these degrees (22 Leo, 16 Virgo, 13 Gemini) this cycle will figure more prominently in our life. And, of course, everyone can use the Venus cycles as touchstones to start, develop and end situations that are Venus ruled!

We also have the Cancer Moon (home, family, security) making a very nice alignment to Jupiter (expansion, good luck) on Monday. Circle Monday, June 6th, on the calendar!

The next day (Tuesday) Venus and the Sun will square the Nodes (of fate) - this connects whatever is happening to our past (karma) and future (dharma). A square denotes tension. Something outside our control is requiring us to take a new action. In this case, we are faced with a choice. Stay with our same old story or evolve/change something and head toward the future (and mostly we all say we want a different future and then we do the same old thing - me, too - ack!).

With Venus and the Sun in Gemini (ruled by Mercury) and the North Node in Virgo (ruled by Mercury) and Mercury ruling our communication and information - something about receiving or giving information could play a role here (Mercury also rules transportation, teaching, writing, fast moving things like computers, siblings and our local neighborhood).

Remember we still have the Mutable Grand Cross energy (literally a cross in the sky). Crosses are about sacrifice, so whatever is happening will come with some kind of trade off. If we want this we have to do, or give up, that. For example - if we want our business to make X amount of dollars we have to give up X amount of free time/family time/other activities to make that happen!

With Gemini there are always choices. With this square to the North Node of our collective destiny life asks us to 'pretty please' make the best one. In Virgo - the best choice will probably be the thing that is most realistic or that provides the most service or that is the best option for our health or the thing that is the 'next step' right in front of us. Virgo also rules organization, paperwork, pets, employees and employment. With so much forward momentum in these areas a little effort can turn into a landslide. This won't be some big crazy thing where we bet the farm - although it could absolutely turn into something big. Small is the new big this year. And yes, I know I've been harping on the same stuff all year!

On Wednesday and Thursday the Moon is in Leo which brings a natural focus to our 5th house of children, love, fun and creativity. The week heats up even more on THURSDAY when Mercury (in Taurus and ruler of our North Node and Sun right now) opposes (just what it sounds like) a retrograde Mars (in Scorpio) - this could be an argument or deep conversation probably about something from the past.

At the same time Pluto (retrograde in Capricorn) trines (brakes off) the North Node (in Virgo) through next Monday. This could remove a roadblock and get us moving in a new and improved direction!

There is the continued need to be flexible, weigh options, watch for things that are not quite as they seem and truths coming out. Mercury finally leaves his shadow period and begins to cover new ground, but if we have been holding off on that big moving parts purchase (computers, cars, etc) until the Mercury retrograde was totally over, I would still hold out a little longer with all the chaotic Gemini energy.

We continue to work with the mutable t-square - Neptune in Pisces, Saturn in Sagittarius and Jupiter in Virgo. In the outer world U.S. politics this 3 legged table looks a lot like Bernie (Neptune - about to go retrograde), Hillary (Saturn - currently retrograde and moving direct in August) and Donald (Jupiter - about to be answering to Mercury in his home sign).

All is not as it seems though and it isn't the best time to get clear answers or make firm decisions - some things just have to work themselves out and fall into and out of place first. Mercury will move into his home sign of Gemini on Sunday - more about that next post.

Things will be much clearer and look very different in July when Mars is direct.

xo all

New Moon in Gemini | June 4th - curiosity beats confusion

curious by estella mestella

Jupiter in Virgo, Saturn in Sagittarius, and Neptune in Pisces (three major planets, all in mutable signs) have been squaring off against each other since last summer. This has been stressing out the mutable signs (all of us at times, but particularly Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces) - lots of sleepless nights and nails chewed to the quick for these guys, I'm sure.

Life's been as wobbly as a three legged table for all of us! And with so much of the focus this year on the mutable (ie changeable) signs - everything is in major flux. Our dreams vs. the reality of our situation has been a major theme for a whole lot of people.

A couple people asked me last week who might win here - dreams or reality. Ha!

This is a Saturn vs. Neptune battle. Saturn (reality) is not so happy to be in Sagittarius - Sagittarius is big picture thinking and adventure and Saturn likes to focus on 'just the facts jack' and the tried and true. He wants us to work hard and Sagittarius likes to play.

Neptune (dreams) is very happy in Pisces, the sign he rules. Neptune and Pisces are in total agreement that all we need is our imagination and our intuition and we will be happy, happy, happy dreaming our lives away.

The problem for Neptune, and it's a rather insurmountable one, is that Pisces is our South Node right now - the stuff we have all decided "as a collective energy" we move forward best by releasing . And we've got our North Node - the space our collective energy is moving toward in "just get 'er done" worker bee Virgo, along with Jupiter (expansion).

My money's on Saturn (the reality police).

This doesn't mean our big bodacious dreams will never happen (life is as magical as ever!) - although to be honest, hell, they might not (if there is nothing solid to support them this long term energy will force us to deal with the reality of the situation, release this stuff and move on). Getting real can be scary and sad if we have been living in la la-land about something. When we get real new potentials emerge that we never dreamed of!

Anyhoo- back to the New Moon!

We have Gemini, that fourth table leg that's been rather quiet (and by the way the space we need to focus on in our natal and progressed chart for balance - picture that three legged table again, head to the missing corner!) occupied with the Sun and the Moon and conjuncting the beautiful Venus.

This is about relationships, money - choices, decisions. With Venus here this New Moon is VERY powerful and MAGNETIC. Set those intentions people!

Here's a link to last year's post with info on that - check bottom of post!

Gemini is our middle air sign - a sign of the mind, the archetype of the 'teacher' - the storyteller. If you are a Gemini sun sign this is basically the way you process life - you have been mentally exploring and noticing stuff your entire life - you are always ready to teach.

Gemini has more to do with questions than answers. Geminis are designed by birthright to know a hell of a lot of stuff that will never make them any money (unless they make it into the final rounds of Jeopardy) - Gemini is the sign of curiosity.

Gemini is also the sign of confusion and distraction. With so many things vying for our attention it is easy to miss the really important thing among all the noise. Potential can be lost, ends can stay loose, stuff can get spread so thin it pretty much disappears.

Sometimes we focus on too many things, because we are really afraid to fail at the one big important thing.

This ties back into Neptune/Saturn. Maybe as long as our dream is SO BIG it will tend to stay way over THERE (it can't fit in my small house that's for sure) - we can bring it CLOSER by making it SMALLER. This isn't about settling but it could be about settling in for what is real.

This New Moon carries the potential for us to be required to make a choice or decision (things will be much clearer by the 20th when we have that 2nd Sag Full Moon!), a new situation expanding or an old situation turning in a new direction. We might find ourselves reaching out to someone or for something and somehow missing the mark or maybe encountering some kind of large immovable obstacle (I did mention the Moon is squaring Saturn!).

With the New Moon forming a Mutable Grand Cross and conjunct Venus (at an important time for Venus which we'll talk about next week) this is about connecting and closing out karmic cycles from June 2004, June 2012 and June 2016. This is about love, relationships, money, women, what we value, the stuff money can buy and the stuff money can't buy- all our Venus themes.

This aren't a lot of definite answers now. Stuff is up in the air. It will likely be best to meet this energy with an attitude of curiosity - "oh, isn't this interesting". Stay flexible. Stay focused. Choosing a firm side with so much in flux could cause us to get tossed off our game later. If we must choose - head for solid ground (Saturn) with small, measured steps (Virgo). Reality needs to be accommodated this year.

xo all - don't forget to set your intentions!

out of life lines ....

confusion by psychic lexa

Today our Gemini Sun squares Neptune (strong in Pisces and hanging out with the South Node of what we are releasing). Issues become even more convoluted. Reality warps a bit. We are in the process of closing out karmic relationship cycles - I am going to post more about this in the New Moon (happening this weekend) post tomorrow!

Changing points of view, an inability to trust what we see and difficulty making choices is par for the course with this. Going with our 'gut' might not be the best way forward here - since our intuition is literally squaring our life force! Answers are not easy to come by now.

Remember we are closing out that Grand Earth Trine energy we have had access to for the last few weeks and right now Mercury (in Taurus) is trining (brakes off, smooth sailing) the North Node (our future best path) in Virgo - there is something here that over the last month has given us a little ground beneath our feet - something that has proven itself to work. Go with that for now.

xo all