Sun Square Saturn | hard work

about hard work by doruoprisan

We probably felt this transit yesterday, too - it's brief, but potent. We have to get it done. We have to keep going. Yadda yadda.

If you are feeling especially wrung out or depressed (and this should ease a bit this weekend as the Moon lifts out of Scorpio into Sagittarius, although the weekend will probably fly by) think about where you might need stronger personal boundaries. Are you taking on other people's stuff?

Which is actually funny to write - since other people are only really reflecting ourselves back to us. So they are actually taking on our stuff! It is exhausting though to be outsourcing some energy onto someone else and then dealing with it as the third person.

We need patience now. 

The Sun will shine a light on road blocks and stop signs (Saturn).

The Sun will shine a light on whatever we have been avoiding. The stuff we are trying to forget about and cramming under the sofa is snowballing. The sooner we just buckle down and get it done the sooner our confidence (Sun) will return.

There are tests and challenges now. There can be difficulties with authority figures. 

Step into that responsibility. Get the work done. We still have that Virgo North Node - small, polished steps will get us where we need to be.

The best thing about having a foggy future is we are forced to stay focused on the present or we make ourselves insane. You don't want to be insane do you? Stay present. Time is stretchy (and yes, last week's clock change didn't help). This transit can provide us with a nice feeling of accomplishment if we just do what we have to do - we've got this thing.

xo all

a week or so into venus retrograde ....

afternoon sister by polish-girl

How is Venus retrograde in Aries working out for everyone? By now, a week or so into this 40 day and 40 night transit we are likely to see the writing on the wall.

It might still require a pair of those magnifying readers you can pick up at Walgreens for $9.99 or maybe it is splashed in two story high, full color graffiti like mine. Events are transpiring to get us to clarity about what we really value - relationships are tested, the way we handle our money (and other resources) is tested.

Old relationships or earlier times in existing relationships, actions and choices come back for another look or maybe in some cases to bite us in the ass. We might be more sentimental or just more pissed off. We could find ourselves attracting backward.

The theme of the house where early Aries sits in our natal chart will be Venus's field of play. And of course with Aries ruling everything from war to our first house version of ourselves, we could be retooling and re-looking at multiple Aries general themes.

The last Venus retrograde (summer 2015) had me obsessed with several Netflix series about life in the early 60's. This one is hitting closer to home. Recent battles have required me to stand up for my own happiness. Which is a pretty way of saying something that doesn't look very pretty in real life.

It also has me focused on how I used to look or maybe more accurately put if I look deeper, how I used to look to others.

(and yes, I am talking about more than physical appearance but I am talking about physical appearance, too - for example, after seeing my recent vacation pics with my hair gone almost totally gray, I am not sure this is such a good idea anymore, plus I need to lose 10 pounds)

Today, Venus squares asteroid Juno (partnership, relationship) at 10 degrees Capricorn. There is a clash/tension here between our personal freedom and our commitments to others.

We also have the Sun conjunct asteroids Pallas and Chiron - all in watery, dreamy, imaginative, illusive, deceptive (pick your poison) Pisces. Maybe something from late last week when Mercury touched these same asteroids comes to light now, concludes or evolves. Or maybe Sunday's Full Moon did that and now we are dealing with the aftermath. There is some turning point here.

Mars is trine the North Node today encouraging us to focus our efforts on what we feel most passionate about (that might mean working with a situation that is making us angry - anger is passion, too). As exhausted as most of us are now, there is still some fight left in all of us. 

There has to be.  

xo all

Mercury into Aries - them's fightin' words and fired up with new ideas

angry workplace by tarelkin

Mercury (communication, conversation, thoughts, ideas) moves into fiery Aries today.

Our words get to the point.

What comes to mind or out of our mouths first is what catches attention. Words get blunt and powerful and also more potentially hurtful and deadly. Everyone else's words will have more fire behind them, too. Conversations are more straightforward and passionate. More sensitive people can get hurt. Know this is an annual transit and necessary toward everyone's advancement. People will be speaking up and letting the chips fall.

The message becomes more important than the words now because the message is all the other person will hear/remember anyway. The truth will come out and it won't always be pretty.

Communications and conversations will speed up. Our thinking, and everyone else's, will be more independent. New ideas bloom like apples in autumn - pick one. Focus.

Words spoken with passion and authority produce the best results. But remember everyone will be thinking "what's in it for me?" - the goods must be delivered (Mercury in Aries will give the collective a greater tendency to start something full of passion, maybe anger, and then fizzle out). With Aries it is easy to get so fired up over something we haven't thought all the way through and then toss the baby out with the bathwater at the first sign of trouble (and use multiple metaphors in the same sentence, why the hell not!).

It will be very easy to get into a fight now. With Aries, the first sign, focused in on that first thought (wth, did he just insult me?) it will be harder to think twice. If we have to stand up for ourselves the energy to do so will be there for us. It will also be there to cut others off at the knees - keep this in mind.

This is great energy to turn our thoughts and ideas toward ourselves (Aries is about me, me, me after all). Over the next few weeks (through March 31st when Aries moves on) the energy will be there to revamp our language, words, name, profile and start fresh.

What house is Aries in your natal chart? This is the area of life our conversations and communications will focus in on. Mercury also rules siblings, local travel and transportation - all these things will get a shot of Aries fire, too.

xo all

Full Moon in Virgo Plus a Quick Look at Mars into Taurus

wracaj by kieubaska

Back from warm and sunny Florida and now preparing for a nor'easter snowstorm this week! Yikes!

What did I miss? 

OK, Mars moved into Taurus on Friday (until April 21st). Mars in Taurus slows us down and steadies our actions.

With Taurus this isn't so much about doing anything new - this is about building on and taking action with "what we already have". Things won't move quickly, but the things we take action on now will be longer-lasting. 

Success comes to the turtle and not the hare. Whatever we are doing, we need to be prepared to keep on doing it. It may take some time. We have Venus retrograde in Aries - Venus rules Taurus and Mars rules Aries, making these planets in what astrologers call - mutual reception - and making both more powerful. With Taurus this will be about our security and stability - stuff Venus already has us focused in on.

People will have a tendency to be more stubborn and unmovable now - we will all be digging in our heels and refusing to change course (hence the slow down). Remember the KISS acronym - keep it simple stupid (except change stupid to sista' - why the hell would we call ourselves stupid?!). That crazy, complicated thingamajig we were thinking about doing - nix it. That thing that looks just too basic to work - yeah do that thing. This is excellent energy to get out in nature and get our hands dirty, too - if you have the weather to garden - we apparently do not - get on with that!

Today we have a Full Moon in Virgo (22 degrees). Virgo is so precise and committed to perfection this is a good time to feel overwhelmed. 

This tension of what is real and what is ideal is the fundamental tension of the Virgo archetype. 

Traditionally Virgo is the sign of the servant and healer. Virgo is also the skilled crafts person - the archetype of being good at something, of taking the time to learn and do something well.

(when Martha says "it's a good thing" she is channeling her inner Virgo, which is probably her sun sign or her Venus, have to look her up)

So in Virgo we gain dignity and self respect from being good at something that is useful to other people.

If you were born with your sun in Virgo this is the basic way you process life, moon in Virgo; the basic way you experience your feelings about life and if your ascendant is in Virgo; the basic way you appear to others - the mask you wear.

(people who think Virgos are fussy or nitpicky are totally missing the point and also forgetting we all have Virgo in our charts)

The Virgo Full Moon reminds us we all have right work. This right work may not be something we will be paid to do. It's not about the money. 

This is about being good at something that is valuable to other people.

It's not about having other people recognize this 'wonderful' thing we are doing though - Virgo is the leg of our hero's journey that comes after Leo where we took center stage and got our applause. 

Virgo is the next space - the one where we release, at least a little bit, our need to be recognized.  Of course at the time of the Virgo Full Moon we don't want to be hiding our light under a bushel - to quote my grandma.

Full Moons bring culminations and 'things to light'. With the Pisces Sun sitting with (wounded healer) Chiron and both opposing the Moon - something hurts here.

I missed writing a post last week when I was away but the whole week was building toward tonight's Full Moon.

Saturn is squaring Mercury - there could be a "no" here or news that sounds like more hard work or some kind of stop sign. This Moon is all about living up to our responsibility. And doing our best. The light will shine clearly on what needs to be done or what isn't going to work out. With Virgo's perfectionism there is bound to be pressure (internal and external) - the key will be putting on our big girl pants and getting on with things. It won't be easy because it will feel like whatever we are doing isn't enough and that we are suddenly all thumbs and elbows. Something isn't quite working out the way we expected here. Mars in Taurus will help. Be a grown up. Know that when we know better we do better. So now we know better. Let's release the idea of perfection - kick it to the curb - it doesn't exist.

I'll do the weekly post in the a.m. Mercury is heading into Aries on Monday so lots of conversations, communications, errands and sibling stuff. xo all