Venus into Cancer | wanting to feel safe

now you are safe by borda

A way that energy shifts and moves our story/stories forward is we have these big outer planet transits or aspects, like the Neptune/Saturn square strongly activated right now, and they shift collective energy - then the inner planets move and our individual energy shifts.

Tomorrow, as she does every year (not at this exact time), Venus moves into Cancer. Now we are not the same people who experienced Venus in Cancer last year, so although it might look like we are in the same place, covering the same degrees in the skies, the landscape has changed because we have. This is the same way we spiral upward and run into the same situations and people again and again.

Sometimes when this happens we ask, "why is this happening to me again? haven't I worked all this crap out already?!" and we think life is sending us another lesson to work this out or another test to see if we have and I used to think like this, too.

Through astrology and cycles I can see more clearly that these 'tests and lessons' are really just experiences and we get to choose how we react and how we react sets into play what happens next.

Venus rules love, money, women, beauty, harmony, balance, relationship, our values - everything money can buy and everything it can't. She rules the signs of Libra and Taurus (and if either of these signs is your rising sign - ascendant - she most likely rules your chart) and the 2nd and 7th houses of our astrology charts.

She's kind of a big deal. And since she's an inner planet, when she changes signs, we feel it and experience it personally - and we move the collective energy forward (as opposed to things like the Neptune/Saturn square and outer planet transits that move the collective energy and then we adjust to that).

Venus is much more comfortable in Cancer (ruled by her friend the Moon) than she is in Gemini where she has been attracted to and attracts "one thing after the other". She's been flirting and "keeping things light" but nothing really turns into anything here.

Now headed into cardinal energy (initiating a new season) Cancer, she's ready to settle down. 

Cancer is about nurturing, history, mother, comfort, home. Cancer Suns (and ascendants) will be more attractive now - ie physically attractive to the rest of us and more able to attract what they need/want.

The Cancer house in our natal (and progressed charts) gets more attractive, too, as it hosts lovely Venus for the next few weeks. So, let's say you are a Gemini rising with Cancer in your 2nd house - this transit will wake up your finances/values house and allow you to be more attractive to what you want and need. If you are a Taurus rising with Cancer in your 3rd house - this transit will allow you to more effortlessly attract new opportunities through communication (also sibling, transportation, local community issues will almost certainly improve). Etc, around the zodiac.

Universally, home and family will feel more precious. We will want to feel safe. We'll move in the direction of whatever feeds this need now. 

We might be more emotional; maybe a little more needy and vulnerable. These do not have to be bad things. The fly in the ointment with Venus in Cancer is the kind of smothering/mothering that suffocates or we overindulge ourselves in some unhealthy way or we have an unrealistic expectation of someone else filling some childhood need.

We are approaching a very beneficial Full Moon energy starting this weekend I will post about later. And the Solstice is coming. Hang in there. xo all

Neptune Stations Retrograde | our dream, our faith, our compassion under review

into the sea by aimes likes to take pics

The planet of our dreams, our imagination, our compassion - will station retrograde today. She will move backward from 12 to 9 degrees Pisces between now and mid November when she will station direct and begin to move forward again.

Neptune's retrograde (unless we have a strong Neptune or Pisces or its backward walk touches sensitive spaces in our chart) is sometimes a more subtle energetic shift. But this year since she is part of both of 2016's strongest energetic alignments - the Neptune/Saturn square and the Mutable T-Square and our collective south node - what we are releasing - is in Pisces (Neptune rules Pisces), we will all feel this one.

If we have any planets or points in our natal or progressed charts from 12-9 degrees Pisces (and other mutable and water signs) we will feel this transit most strongly.

Neptune rules the ocean, the seas, sleep, our dreams (both the dreams when we are sleeping and the dreams when we are awake), the unconscious, the subconscious, our inter-connectedness, flow, imagination, compassion, meditation, medication, illusion, deception, lies, addiction, alcohol, exhaustion, escape, baptism, sacrifice, spirituality, detox, faith, psychology, mental health, mental illness, intuition, mysticism, fantasy, the ethereal realms (things that cannot be seen, touched, tasted or heard with our five senses), art, dance, music, film, chemicals, drugs, poison, ghosts, victim, martyr, saint, religion, Christ-like, fanaticism, hospitals, healing, research, confusion, retreats, release, isolation, orphans, nursing homes, retirement, our feet, vision, karma, hidden enemies, what is hidden, what we do in secret, lack of boundaries, the 12th house of our charts (things we do last, things that are put away, our subconscious, our undoing, all the things above), the house that holds Pisces in our charts.

At first glance this might look like a list of unconnected things - but when you look closer can you see/feel the connections? Even as we look for the connection we are using Neptune!

Something here is up for review which means situations, people, circumstances will come up that will re-focus our attention on one or more of these areas over the next few months.

This will be a time to reflect, re-do, re-evaluate, re-examine, release or re-visit what we are working with here. Neptune always turns us inward.

Remember when a big energy shifts like Neptune does today we will literally be "off" so things can just feel "off" - let's not push where we don’t need to push. Instead let's stay alert to the signs and feelings around us and take our cue from them. We might require extra (or less) sleep, more (or less) time alone or more (or less) meditation time. I would stay away from mind altering chemicals.

(last weekend's shooting in these days leading up to the exact Neptune/Saturn square - the Paris shooting was in the days leading up to the last Neptune/Saturn square - had (and will produce) many Neptunian elements - happening in the night, the nightclub where likely music, dance, alcohol and drugs were present, Florida sea, fanaticism, confusion, hidden enemies, secrets, hospitals, connected-ness, isolation, faith, victim, mental illness, compassion)

Back tomorrow with the weekly post. xo all

Mercury into Gemini | information overload

ideas by bucikah

A couple people told me recently that Mercury retrograde, has felt to them, like it never ended.

Probably because 1. Mars is still retrograde and 2. Mercury in Taurus can feel a bit bogged down, as words and information are examined more carefully, even as we are moving forward.

Mercury (communication, local life and travel, transportation) moves into his home sign of Gemini today. We will feel a difference in the week ahead as information and communications switch from turtle pace to rabbit.

Increased choices, conversations and ideas will start to flow. We won't put everything to use, Gemini can be rather chatty so some stuff will just move in and out, but the change in momentum will be noticeable.

(Gemini is a big player in this year's collective story via the Mutable T-Square and Grand Cross and Donald Trump - Gemini Sun. Mercury, Gemini's ruler and also the ruler of Virgo - our North Node path forward and host of Jupiter right now - is a big player this year, too. Hopefully this transit will help us make decisions about our next steps!)

Keep in mind with Gemini there are more questions than answers and the information might be unreliable.

But easy, adaptable conversations suitable for the moment can pull everything forward now.

With Mercury's long slog back and forth through Taurus we went over and over a few important details. Now fresh information and conversations will come in and expand whatever we are dealing with.

This can be stimulating if we've grown weary of Taurus's scrutiny and demand for truth or like information overload if Mars retrograde has us drained and exhausted or both. xo all

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