Mars in Virgo Trine Pallas in Taurus | patterns of behavior, strategy, working the process, perseverance, creativity

time time time by muszka

First check the forecast HERE for this week's major energy patterns.

The Moon is still in "big-picture" Sagittarius today and making some tense aspects including a hook-up with serious Saturn. Although our mood could be a bit flattened, the combination of Saturn's feet on the ground/strong foundation and Jupiter's (Sagittarius ruler) head in the clouds/build it BIG isn't necessarily a bad thing, right?

It sounds like a recipe for success, long term success, which is a perfect fit with today's perfecting aspect -

Mars (in Virgo at 13 degrees) trines (brakes off) Pallas (in Taurus at 13 degrees).

Mars rules action, initiative, war and independence and Pallas rules creative intelligence, strategy, war and patterns.

Practical action (Mars in Virgo - take the next step, cross your t's, do what makes sense) along with structured, creative problem solving and pattern recognition (Pallas in Taurus - establish a new pattern/schedule/plan that builds on what is already working but put your own creative spin on it). 

This moves whatever we are working on/dealing with forward more smoothly (trine).

With all of this earth (Virgo/Taurus), stuff is going to take time to germinate. This isn't the energy of something that is fast or explosive. This is slow growth that lasts.

This starts with a plan. Something that builds on WHAT IS ALREADY WORKING. Then we do the day-to-day practical work the plan lays out. Create a pattern to be followed. Work the process. Progress will be steady and noticeable. 

Perseverance is required.

xo all

Mini Astro Lesson - Taurus and Virgo are naturally trine each other. Rulers of our 2nd (our resources, our values, our self-esteem) and 6th houses (work, health, day-to-day activities) the themes of these houses naturally compliment each other, too. They work together so smoothly we might only notice them when they aren't working. We work (6th house) and make money (2nd house). We value ourselves (2nd house) and so we do the work needed to stay healthy (6th house). You get the picture. The other natural trine here (earth signs) is our 10th house (Capricorn) which rules career/public life, you can see how this house fits in here, too.

There is natural law at work here. If you go to astro.com, free horoscopes, natal chart and enter your birth data - your chart will include a little graph at the bottom where you will see lots of little symbols including triangles. Those triangles are some of your super-powers. They are your planets and points that were in just the right houses and just the right degrees when you were born to provide you with your personal arsenal of "brakes off". Check them out. Google the attributes of the planets and houses involved. Make a word salad. Sit with that for a bit.

Astrology Forecast for Creatives | Week of September 25th - painful truths, hard to find the right words, negative self talk, surprising news, big pushes forward, here we go!

shine even in the darkness by muszka

On MONDAY,  Mercury (in Virgo) squares Saturn (in Sagittarius) -

then on Wednesday, he/she opposes Chiron (in Pisces) - this makes the first three days of the week tense and stressful - stock up on the good chocolate and the red wine NOW.

Some painful truths might come out over the next couple days. Problems could come to light and the answers could be hard to find (maybe check that left side sofa cushion there is always something find-able under there).  Everything doesn't have to grind to a halt though. With Saturn in the picture, the solution may take time and some elbow grease. But with Saturn time is on our side.

Think the situation through.

It will be easy to say the wrong thing and put our foot in our mouth. Or maybe the right words don't come easy or don't come at all. Maybe we are talked over or just don't get our chance to speak. Maybe the less said the better.

It will be easy for our thinking to go negative. Keep in mind this is a fast-moving transit. With the other energies at play this week, it could be easy to make a mountain out of a molehill.

If it actually is a mountain, there will be actions we can take later in the week to deal with it. Remember we still have a heap of planets in Virgo - small precise steps, organization, stick to the facts.

And we have the Sun in Libra - think 'diplomacy', think 'balance', think 'fairness' - and brush your hair. Appearances matter now.

This is great energy (Monday) for solo work that focuses our mind on one thing for a long time. We could get alot done, but not alot of different things done. This is not the best energy to communicate (Mercury) with authority (Saturn). Not the best time for business negotiations. We could get caught up in the minutia (Virgo) and miss the big picture (Sagittarius).

The Moon is in Sagittarius so we could be focused on Sagittarius themes - education, travel, foreign issues, politics, weddings, the media, public relations, grandchildren, legal issues, religion. The Moon's squares first to Venus and later to Jupiter could leave us a bit scattered.

By TUESDAY, the approaching Jupiter/Uranus square is almost certainly being felt. See Thursday for the details. The Moon's conjunction with Saturn flattens out our mood. The Moon squares Mercury - our emotions and our head are in tension. Judging and being judged does not feel so good. Again this is Virgo/Sagittarius stuff. Two energies that naturally square each other. Sagittarius always wants more but Virgo knows how to use what we already have. Keep this in mind.

On WEDNESDAY, Mercury (in Virgo) opposes Chiron (in Pisces). Something hurts. Sticks and stones can break our bones, but words can never hurt us - turns out to be a LIE. Use Virgo - stick with the facts, be practical, stay calm, do something with your hands - put one foot in front of the other.

The Moon moves into "all-business, just get 'er done" Capricorn after being Void until 12:25PM EDT. People are more serious and concerned about their own safety and security for the next couple days. We might not be as emotionally available to each other now - keep this in mind when people want their space or seem colder than usual. Our emotions (Moon) need structure (Capricorn). I am not really sure what the hell I am saying with that- but it feels right. We have the first quarter Moon so whatever we started at the New Moon in Virgo is officially off the ground and we encounter our first obstacles.

The big news this week is the final Jupiter/Uranus opposition on THURSDAY. We will be feeling this all week. We have had three of these since Jupiter went into Libra last year.

The final opposition this week could bring a surprise ending to the Jupiter/Uranus story which started on December 26th - although in some ways really started back in 2010. 

Results will be either massively disruptive or massively positive. Or both.

With Uranus anything goes, so cross your fingers with this one. 

If you have planets or points around 27 degrees of the cardinal signs - Aries, Cancer, Libra or Capricorn you will feel this one strongest. It has been building all month really.

 *****

People ask me how to handle Uranus transits. With Saturn transits you need to do the serious, responsible, hard work. With Neptune transits you need to stay grounded, meditate (but not over-meditate), make art and then close that art room door and go deal with the real world - avoid escaping. Read non-fiction. With Pluto we need to go deep, let go of things that are dead (we will know they are dead because they will be leaving). You know that movie heroine who goes into the dark basement even though we are all screaming from our seats for her to get in her car and drive to Target for a cheap locket that will break in a week

(warning shameless plug ahead- my locket will not break in a week, it will last the rest of your life, it is available HERE)

well we need to be that girl during a Pluto transit. Pluto transits just have to be survived. Ha!

With Uranus transits, there isn't alot we can do once we are in them. The more "stuck" we are as Uranus approaches, the more dramatic the results of the transit. He will get us from A to B in the fastest, most direct manner and does not care at all if we are dropped on our ass in a prickly field of cacti.

The more we are moving and changing before the transit the less we will feel his disruption. Note - he will be moving into our Taurus houses in April. Find what house he rules in your natal chart (or ask me!). That house theme is about to be shaken up! And Taurus is fixed earth - our Taurus house is a space we most naturally hunker down and get stuck. It's going to be interesting folks!

 *****

Jupiter through Libra for the last year has been about balance within relationships, fairness, diplomacy. During this time Jupiter has done two things three times.

He squared Pluto three times (remember we talked early in the year about that elephant hiding behind the couch - that relationship issue that was going to get bigger and bigger in 2017 until we dealt with it) and he opposed Uranus three times.

This week is the final Uranus opposition. These boys don't move quickly so the energy will be sticking around awhile. We felt this in late December/early January, late February/early March and now late September/early October.

If outside forces are not pushing us into new terrains, this energy could be making us antsy and impatient. I will do a full post about this.

Also, on THURSDAY, Pluto stations direct (expect a post) after a five month retrograde. He moves toward a trine (brakes off) with Mars in Virgo which will be exact on SUNDAY. This one feels like PROGRESS. It will give us the strength (Mars) and staying power (Pluto) to achieve our goals!

Happening hand-in-hand with the Jupiter/Uranus opposition makes me think of something moving in a brand new direction. There is some kind of perfect timing here.

If we had some bad news/problem situations earlier in the week this is the energy we want to use to take right action!

The bossy Capricorn Moon trines (brakes off) Mars. This gives us extra energy and the drive to get things done.

On Thursday night the Moon will conjunct a strong stationing Pluto - lots of volatile emotions, jealousy, compulsion, possessiveness - this is in Capricorn so some chilly winds could be blowing! It could be a good night for a deep conversation where we MIGHT keep a level head, but I think I will pass on that and go to sleep!

On FRIDAY, Venus (in Virgo) opposes Neptune (in Pisces). One of the reasons so much is happening is that we have all these planets in Virgo working their way through Neptune and Chiron oppositions!

On the same day Mercury will move into Libra. So we have Mercury in Libra answering to Venus (Libra's ruler) and Venus in Virgo answering to Mercury (Virgo's ruler).

This strengthens both Venus and Mercury.

Venus/Neptune is good energy for art, music, using our imagination. A good time for true forgiveness and compassion, but also good energy for deluding ourselves with more pink paint. Leave the credit cards at home. On the other hand, if you market something to women - fantasy sells, so figure that out.

Our energy might be low today. This is not the best time to sign a contract because we could miss important details. It will be easy to try and avoid the unpleasant stuff we don't want to deal with. I know it is Friday and we all just want the week to be over - but try not to let the details slide or to give more than the situation warrants. Boundaries will be leaky. I swear if I get another insect infestation with this Neptune aspect I am going to shutter my house and go live in my car - which I shouldn't joke about because of course many people have shuttered their houses and are living in their cars. A good day for meditation. Maybe not so good for jokes about homelessness.

We could be inspired to create something beautiful now. The world needs more beautiful. Let's do that.

xo all

back this week with some dailies, plus a look ahead at the big transits of 2018!

Sun Into Libra | Equinox - the Sun begins to fall, bringing things into balance, natural cycles, those pesky other people, the beauty in everyday things

BAGO by schude

At 4:01PM EDT today the Sun moves into Libra - a day with an equal balance of daylight and dark.

The Sun begins to fall (weakens) as we move into longer nights and shorter days. It is the opposite down under (the Sun begins to strengthen). Western astrology is based on the Northern hemisphere where we move into Fall - which is not only about leaves!

I have had a few emails from people linking me to videos about the end of days (meaning the end of all our days!) being 9/23. But don't fill up the credit cards just yet folks. I could imagine the end of civilization, maybe some kind of ice age, coming during the Age of Capricorn. But we have a couple thousand years of the Age of Aquarius between us and then.

I know we are mostly exhausted, but let's not give up just yet. Saturn has been stopped for a long time and this is really zapping many people's drive. There have been losses and roadblocks and it is going to take work to get to where we want to be. It is like we are saying to ourselves, "I see these possibilities over THERE, but they are going to take alot of work and I am tired and not sure I want to do it anymore." Let's use nature's cycles to realize whatever it happening in our own life is a cycle, too. It seems that whenever the energy starts to feel like this - those doomsday prophecies are picked up by the news.

Don't forget we are all in this together. Even at times when it feels like we are all alone! Sometimes we just need to be shaken so our resting energy is provoked. Maybe we are like that bottle of ketchup and would get all clumped up without some agitation.

If we have tripped or "fallen" maybe we could try thanking this 'trigger', this 'benchmark' for what we are learning. I know it is hard to do that! And I have to somewhat spit those words out right now myself - sorry if I hit you!

But imagine a life where everything went our way all the time. Would we really want that? And we know we don't, because if we collectively did, we would have that. This doesn't mean we want whatever is happening to us to happen to us when things go wrong - but the more we focus on what we don't want, the more "don't want" there is to focus on.

The Sun in Libra is excellent energy to focus on beauty - where is the beauty in our life?

Can we use all these laser-focused planets in Virgo to see (Mercury), feel (Venus) and touch (Mars) the real beauty in our lives? Can we see the beauty in the stories behind our wrinkles and gray hairs? Can we see how the stories make those lines and twisted follicles beautiful? And now that we have seen that in ourselves can we see the beauty in other people's scars and blemishes, too?

We still have alot of inner planets in Virgo so the Virgo practicality and putting one foot in front of the other will still be a focus, but now the Sun (our life force) shifts into the sign of balance, compromise, relationships and fairness.

A light (the Sun) will be shone on what is out-of-balance or what is unfair, particularly within relationships. The curtain is drawn back and our Libra houses (and their themes) wake up. 

In some ways, because Libra is about weighing things out (nothing is cut and dried here like the wheat during Virgo season) things are harder when the Sun is in Libra. Libras sometimes (not always) appear wishy-washy, but it is because they were born between Summer and Winter - they can see both sides of everything!

With the Sun in Libra we will all be burning Libra fuel. We move ahead through balance, compromise and through our relationships with other people. 

We move into the shadow of Libra when we are passive-aggressive, pouring pink paint on garbage and pretending it is a Barbie dream house and putting what everyone else needs/wants ahead of ourselves thus building deep pockets of resentment that will explode all over us and everyone else by the time we get into Scorpio season. These are our no-no's now. Keep an eye out.

(the North Node is still in Leo - oxygen mask on our own face first)

Write your Autumn bucket list. What do you want to do, see, experience? Think about that.

xo all

Sun Sextile Ceres, Venus Sesquiquadrate Pluto | spreading seeds, feels like a hug, back to square one with something, vampires suck, maybe stop looking for the reason, last day of summer ... sniffle

goodbye by Ciril

The Sun, about to make his move into Libra and kick off a brand new season tomorrow, has a comforting sextile (opportunity) with mothering Ceres today (Goddess of the seasons!) at 29 degrees. Whenever universal timing offers up something like this (synchronicity) it pays to pay attention.

People with the Sun sextile Ceres in their natal charts are often generous with their gifts/talents/resources. They are fertile. Maybe not always in the pro-creation of actual children, but they are able to spread their seeds (gifts, talents, resources) and have those seeds germinate. Conflicted, they also make great hoarders.

With this energy in play today for all of us it would be good time to take action with the seeds we are spreading (this could be a good time for a mailing or email campaign, but we would have to be quick about it since the Sun changes signs tomorrow at 4PM EDT). And also with the stuff we are hanging onto that has outgrown its season.

This could show up today as something that feels like a hug ... I hope we all get one! Maybe some good advice, a warm cup of coffee, a smile just when we need it!

The other thing we have going on today - besides all the stuff I wrote about in the weekly - is Venus (now in Virgo) sesquiquadrate Pluto (in Capricorn).

Sesquiquadrates are 135 degree aspects and are considered 'minor' aspects. I usually don't write about them here, because I don't have time to look and there is so much else to write about, but I find when talking to someone about their natal chart that it is often the minor aspects that give them those Oprah "aha" moments.

Sesquiquadrates fall between the trine (90 degrees) and the inconjunct (150 degrees). With trines we find things falling into place smoothly, talent we don't have to work for, stuff comes to us easy-peasy and we often take this stuff for granted. With inconjuncts things are out of balance, the two energies are not congruent, they don't get along, they can't work together, one side needs to adjust to the other, win-wins don't happen.

Sesquiquadrates are the middle ground. There is ready ability here but without the balance to have the success we are looking for. In the natal chart they lead to faulty planning or difficulties through inflexibility. They give us a kind of tunnel vision. We have an urge to do something or to cause something to happen in a very specific and very controlled way. We don't always look at the real circumstances clearly - which are always changing! - because we are too focused on the "goal". We don't adjust when the situation changes. We don't see how this could all work so much easier if we just adjust!

So sesquiquadrates usually require some kind of disappointment or loss that forces us to be FLEXIBLE.

So, Venus (freshly into Virgo) and Pluto (9 years into his 16 year journey through Capricorn) are 135 degrees apart today.

This could be the time when a loss or disappointment shows up to teach us the gift of flexibility.  

Maybe we could have put alot of energy into the details of something and it feels like we did it all for nothing. We could be back at square one. Maybe we are trying to make the environment conform to our plan and that is not really how life works. Ugh!

So now, moving forward, our planning will be more realistic, more flexible, more allowing of life to take its course and get us to the place we are wanting to be!

This could also be, since this is Venus/Pluto - about toxic relationships. Vampires (energy suckers, time suckers, resource suckers), obsessions, power plays are all themes of Plutonian relationship dynamics. Maybe the blinders come off. Remember we can only change our own behavior, not anyone else's.

Since the Sun is still in Virgo now the way through are those small, practical steps - if you are not a terribly practical person ask yourself what a practical person would do, or find one and actually ask them. Find a routine. Take it one day and one thing at a time.

Sometimes it is best to let go of trying to find the "reason" something is happening or the "lesson" in the loss. You have absorbed it. Trust that you have grown from it. You don't have to analyze (Virgo!) the thing to death.

And remember the North Node of our collective way forward is in heart ruled Leo and a healthy heart is passionately self-loving. If we wouldn't want it for someone we love we shouldn't allow it for ourselves either. Keep this in mind.

More info about the energies at play this week in the weekly forecast HERE

xo all - enjoy this last day of summer (or winter if you are down under)!