Looking Ahead to the Weekend - Astrology Forecast for Creatives | where fair and square meets what the hell was I thinking, something comes unglued

w03 by mymadeleine

This weekend is a bit of a mixed bag as we build toward Tueday's New Moon.

We have Mercury/Saturn in play so serious conversations, contracts, decisions, endings, goals - especially long-term goals, career issues, family issues, responsibilities, security, situations with authority, realistic planning.

Whatever we have going on here will continue.

Friday night is not the best "date night" of the year (although the Sagittarius Moon will help) unless you are up for a long, sober talk about his business (snore) or his approaching court date (yikes!) or are going to see The Post, like I am, which seems serious enough to satisfy my appetite for reality that has bit someone other than ME (heads up by Sunday afternoon we will have the Moon in Capricorn, too!).

By Saturday mid-afternoon EST Venus (in Capricorn) will be squaring Uranus (in Aries). In the collective this could be about women, love, money, our values and/or self-esteem needing more freedom.

Anything fitting even slightly tightly (slightly tightly!) will feel like a dog collar right about now.

If we are repressing this urge - our partner/child, etc, could be the chicken to fly the coop.  

Something unexpected could come up - so keep plans flexible.

If you have planets or points around 24 degrees of the cardinal signs - Aries, Cancer, Libra or Capricorn - you would be most likely to feel this square in whatever areas of life are impacted.

Expect something else. Ruts can be jumped now. We will be attracted (Venus) to the cutting edge, the strange, the unusual (Uranus). This is good energy to break bad habits. Unexpected expenses might pop up, too.

Tension within relationships (picture a rubber band stretched to its breaking point) - could cause some people to snap. Maybe something has to change here. Business as usual isn't going to cut it.

Don't overspend.

That new piece of pricey technology that looks so tempting today, will look like "what the hell was I thinking" by Sunday afternoon (the same goes for that guy with the strange tattoo - trust me on this one).

On Sunday, the Moon will be void until 2:42PM EST, so sleep in. Avoid garage sales because "nothing will come" of your purchases (except maybe filling a space on the table of your own garage sale next year). After the void the Moon moves into Capricorn - for the first time in 2018! - we will be feeling even more ambitious or like a blanket left out in a rainstorm - there is probably no middle ground here.

By late afternoon EST Sunday, the Sun will square Uranus so everyone will want to do things their own way. There could be sudden outbursts of ... well, just about anything ... but also access to bursts of creativity and unusual solutions.

Instead of waiting for life to surprise us, let's take the bull by the horns, or maybe with all this Capricorn I should say take 'the goat by the horns' - and yes it can be one of those adorable fainting goats, why the hell not - and make some beneficial changes.

This is our second square to 'change-maker' Uranus this weekend

(although with the Sun and Venus so close together this could show up as just one thing or multiple things that feel kind of chaotic)

so keep plans flexible. Did I say that already?  

Expect people could be irrational/rebellious. This energy is going to get stagnant stuff unstuck one way or the other - so be pro-active through positive change.

We will be looking to experience something different. We will probably find what we are looking for.

xo all

Saturn Says You're It | another brick in the wall, sober thinking, the nuts and bolts of the thing, playing the long game, getting solidly fixated on whatever we need to be solidly fixated on

afternoon ritual by suckcess

Saturn solidifies his stranglehold on January as Mercury joins the Sun, Venus, Saturn, Black Moon Lilith and Pluto in "serious-as-a-heart-attack" Capricorn.

Mercury has been on a long two month journey (which is normally about a three week journey) through big-picture Sagittarius. Now he/she is finally ready to cover fresh ground!

Think about what Mercury does.

Mercury enables us to align ourselves with information. The ruler of Gemini (and Virgo) he/she has been in her detriment (not able to function at his best) in Sagittarius (Gemini's polarity sign). Mercury likes details. He likes to see the trees and Sagittarius only cares about the forest. We have been moving back and forth with some information/ideas/beliefs over the last two months.

Now Mercury moves into stable and ambitious Capricorn where things are more clearly defined (it is no coincidence U.S. politicians are talking about the wall again). Up is up and down is down. So what is real for us, now, after this Sagittarius journey? What is necessary? What do we keep? And what do we eliminate as distraction, gossip, an old story that no longer needs to be re-told/re-lived or just pie-in-the-sky foolishness?

And remember on Saturday, Mercury is going to meet up with Saturn 

(yes, again, this has been a three-peat also, because of Mercury's retrograde, but this time they are both in Capricorn - a more deep-rooted, but also brick-walled space and a space that Saturn rules). 

and we are close enough to feel this now. 

This is the final page of this chapter. Something ends. Something is given physical form. Something/someone gets a boundary. Someone steps into a responsibility. Someone gets a report card handed to them. Someone has to hear/or say NO. 

What we commit to now we will have to stick with. 

News gets delivered regarding an agreement, contract, responsibility, project AND even though this chapter is ending - next autumn when Saturn goes retrograde the themes of this chapter will be re-visited.

So now we are all dealing with the nuts and bolts of whatever situation we are working through.

If it isn't logical. If it isn't something we can physically touch. If it doesn't really matter. If it doesn't make us/something more effective. If it doesn't make good financial sense. If it doesn't pay the rent. It is on the back burner now.

We are solidly fixated on whatever thing we need to be solidly fixated on ... to survive.

Part of us (yes, the part that wants to be in Disneyworld having breakfast with Mickey) might wish we could look the other way - but we can't do that now.

There is something that must be tended to. Heavy issues could be dealt with over the next week or so. We have a mighty army lined up in the heavens to help us with this, but down here on Planet Earth we could be doing most of the heavy lifting in a very Saturnian way, ie ... all alone.

That's OK. Let's be realistic. What can we do by ourselves with what we have on hand. And how can we wrangle support for the stuff we need help with - hopefully we still have some kind of flock and they haven't all flown south for the winter. Winters can be lonely.

Watch for power struggles.

Watch for any tendency to over-think everything (Aquarius South Node!). Don't try to control everything/everyone. Don't look for guarantees. Don't make yourself crazy, and everyone else crazy, trying to rationalize something.

Just use common sense. You don't have to think to yourself - "what would a left-brained, logical, serious person do?" because YOU are a left-brained, logical, serious person right NOW.

With all this energy in tightly controlled Saturn it is important to

1. not shirk responsibilities
2. meet deadlines
3. live up to our commitments
4. be as productive and effective as we can be - that's it

You don't have to move a mountain or lift a car off an injured kitten - although it might feel like you do.

Watch out for guilt trips.

Meow! Wait, poor kitty - are you just going to leave her there pinned under your BFGoodrich?!

Watch for depressing thoughts. Saturn rules depression because the energy is literally depressing (pressing on) us. How can we re-position ourselves to avoid being crushed?

We need to be smarter than that kitty.

And don't let any Debby-downers into your kitchen for a quick cup of coffee. It won't be quick. Saturn rules boundaries. Lock the door.

The Moon is void almost all day Thursday (9:54AM EST to midnight). The Moon goes void off an opportunistic sextile to lovely Venus, so lots of good stuff can be accomplished today just don't start anything new or do anything you want 'something to come of'.

We can push through any inertia and we can make some real progress. This is also good energy to finish something.

xo all

Astrology Forecast for Creatives | Week of January 8th, Part II Mercury Into Capricorn | breaking free from whatever is dragging us under, the decision is made, just when you are ready for a knuckleball you get a curveball, the need to be flexible, but still the decision is made

filament of fate by oprisco

Before we finish up this week by talking about Mercury, let's take another look at TODAY from a different angle (Pluto's!).

Since Pluto has been in Capricorn (2008) we have had the Sun conjuncting (hooking up) with him at some point every January as the Sun moves through Capricorn. This year, and this is exact today, we have the Sun AND Venus conjuncting Saturn at the same time (19 degrees). The Moon, in Libra this morning, but going void at 11:13AM EST through 3:05PM EST, will then move into Pluto ruled Scorpio.

Things are very Plutonian right now.

This is good energy, with the aid of the waning Moon, to release what isn't working:

1. The people and groups who drain our resources - do you feel energized after being with/talking to someone, or depleted? Venus is the ruler of our 2nd house of self-esteem and Pluto rules power. Do these interactions make us feel more or less powerful (self-assured)? Relationships (Venus) can become vampiric (Pluto) when we give too much of our power away. We could also be the vampire draining another person/situation of its energy. Sometimes simply by staying too long at the party ...

2. The things and situations that drain our resources - all those bills that we mindlessly pay through some kind of autopay - let's have a look at them now. What are our goals? Remember we are not the same people we were last year or the year before that. What are our priorities now? The Moon is waning - what expenses can be cut? What are we spending money/time on that doesn't support our integrity/wholeness? How can more of our money/time be freed up?

All this Pluto answering to Saturn (Capricorn/winter) is about pushing us out of our chains (which we are strong enough to break anyway, but like elephants born in a circus we have been trained to think are stronger than we are) - the chains made of fear, procrastination, perfectionism, people-pleasing, clinging to our make-believe safety net, holding onto things that are dead (lifeless). If it feels stagnant - get it moving. If it feels suffocating - this is powerful energy to push that pillow away from our face and stand up.

It's not a time to keep adding more and more into our life and then we sit there with all this stuff all squished together and wonder why nothing is GROWING. Imagine a farmer doing this in her field. Just adding more and more with less and less time to tend to everything and no space for anything to flourish. Be choosy about what you take on now, because all this Capricorn creates a COMMITMENT.

If nothing feels like something you want to commit to - it's time to clear. Imagine your new life - the stuff you can't take with you, that's the stuff that needs to go. All this Pluto could make us a bit ruthless. But remember, the situations we need to separate from, need to separate from us, too. We are as much a strangler as the one being strangled in all 'strangley-type' situations.

Back to Mercury.

On Thursday, Mercury moves into Capricorn after his long (it's been months people!) back and forth journey through Sagittarius. We KNOW "what we believe/need to know" by now. Really you know it. Trust me on this one.

He/she moves over the Galactic Center (28-29 degrees Sagittarius) tomorrow.

(And speaking of the Galactic Center - black hole in the center of our Milky Way Galaxy that astrologically birthed our creative universe - well, after seeing Oprah's speech headlined yesterday in the news at such an important moment for the rising feminine, I pulled up her astrology chart. She has ... wait for it ... although maybe this shouldn't be any great surprise - her ascendant exactly ON the Galactic Center AND those Capricorn degrees that are going to be so uber important, especially for the United States, come 2020 when we have Pluto, Saturn and Jupiter sitting together and interacting with the U.S. chart of 1776, well those degrees are conjunct Oprah's North Node (fated future) and Chiron (wounded healer). Her Sun is also conjunct Venus (exactly - you can't get anymore attractive than this) in Aquarius. You might remember Obama has an Aquarian ascendant and Trump's Sun is conjunct Uranus (ruler of Aquarius), making him an unofficial Aquarian - could Oprah be the next leg of our journey into the Age of Aquarius?! I am not kidding people.)

Back to Mercury. Again.

She/he (Mercury is rather androgynous energy) moves into Capricorn on Thursday and then meets up with Saturn on Saturday. There has been a series of these Mercury/Saturn conjunctions and this is the last one. Thank goodness. Their final meet-up coming in 'serious as a heart attack' Capricorn tells us the idea/conversation - (whatever this is we have been reworking since mid-November) is CLEAR. The boundaries are drawn. The rules are defined. All the words that need to be said have been said.

I would say this is stable and long-lasting because Mercury in Capricorn is very stable and typically creates long-lasting results BUT there are some planetary interactions/disruptions through 'expect the unexpected' Uranus over the weekend that will require us to be flexible. 

The stuff we have been working through will DEFINITELY (see how certain my natal Mercury in Capricorn can be?) be on more steady ground.

The decision we have come to is the decision we have come to.

Just know there could be an unforeseen change or two before the cement is poured. Maybe something that has 'always been done this way' needs a blast of something else.

Mercury meeting Saturn can be Mercury reaching his limit. Something (an idea/communication/sibling issue/transportation issue) has been taken as far as it is going to go. This is the final wall. The last leg. This isn't going any further. It can be a finish line. It can be a "no" but at least now we know.  

It is winter (except where it isn't, but the advice is universal) and the cold (like Capricorn) can make us 'tense up and stiffen' but stay a little loose. If a contract/commitment,etc can wait until next week - work it through for just a couple days longer. Maybe some last minute info comes in. Some plans might have to deal with a curveball or two.

The changes/disruptions this weekend would also play a part in the Capricorn stuff, by sign, included in Part I and could be a totally different thing than this Mercury stuff if these are two different story-lines in your life - we'll talk about this more later in the week.

We've got this thing. Stay frosty.

xo all

Venus Star Point, plus taking advantage of all these sextiles | clearing the field, headed into uncharted territory, finding Alice, taking ownership by OWNING it, growing flowers for our own table

Veleslava by Hemantaru

Just look at this week's aspects:

SUNDAY - Mars conjunct Jupiter
MONDAY - Jupiter and Mars sextile the Sun
Mars sextile Pluto
Sun sextile Jupiter
Venus sextile Jupiter
Mercury is conjunct the Galactic Center (black hole at the center of our galaxy - the Milky Way)
TUESDAY - the Sun and Venus conjunct Pluto
Venus superior conjunction (Venus Star Point) at 19 degrees Capricorn
THURSDAY - Mercury Capricorn Ingress
SATURDAY - Mercury conjunct Saturn
Sun and Venus square Eris
SUNDAY - the Sun and Venus square Uranus

It is mind-blowing. Any one of these aspects could be a weekly focus all by itself and look at all of them - happening at pretty much the same time!

We are down the rabbit hole now folks. In totally uncharted territory. Maybe we need to find Alice.

I'm not sure it is possible to write about this month's energetic shifts. I think we might have to just experience them and incorporate them and see where alot of this shakes out.

*****

Note - let's not let this be an excuse for us to sit back and see what happens. Look at all those sextiles early in the week. This screams OPPORTUNITY. Actually it doesn't. It actually screams OPPORTUNITY, OPPORTUNITY, OPPORTUNITY, OPPORTUNITY!

Someone recently told me that when I write about problems/challenges she always experiences whatever I write about, but when I write about opportunities they just don't happen to her. She thinks she is jinxed. She isn't.

Because she is on the lookout for problems - she unconsciously searches my posts for dragons (which is why I attract so many people with strong Virgo!), for roadblocks, for reasons to delay. And, of course I write about alot of dragons. I see them first and easiest, too.

Sextiles (opportunities) can be harder to spot. Even literally when looking at a chart - you have to train yourself to see them. 

Like the more challenging aspects (squares and oppositions and often conjunctions) they usually require some kind of movement - a shift in our emotions, thinking, actions.

But instead of jumping out of the way of a moving train we need to jump on to the moving train. 

And it is easier to stand there and let the train pass us by than it would be for us to stand there and let the train run us over. See what I mean.

So we notice the challenges (that train is heading straight for me!) more than the opportunities (that train is headed straight for the BEACH!).

*****

OK, back to this week. Something BIG is being re-set to factory settings here. Let's look more closely at Tuesday's Venus Star Point.

Venus's orbit around the Sun traces a 5 pointed star (yes, life is magic, folks!) - every eight year arriving at an actual "point" of the star and every four years landing at a "mid-point". Venus Star Points are like eclipse points, about every nine months, that line us up, through Venus, with what we are consciously and unconsciously attracting.

This week when she lands on the point of her orbit connecting her with the Sun, moving through this same space, is the planet Pluto (karma, transformation, death, rebirth). 

This "point" is 19 degrees Capricorn.

This is also the space where Pluto is conjunct its own South Node and Saturn's South Node and Jupiter's South Node (yes, all those South Nodes in Capricorn releasing patriarchal conditioning, collapsing power structures that are built on uneven - not equal- ground). And this is all happening at a time when Mercury - the planet of communication and information - is traveling over the Galactic Center (black hole in the center of our Universe!).

What could this mean? Well, remember what Venus rules - women, love, money, self-esteem, our values, our resources, the signs of Libra and Taurus, our collective 2nd and 7th houses.

(and remember the way any Venus collective aspects will feel for you personally always needs to factor in your natal Venus. Is she comfortably, although lazily housed in Taurus? Is she always ready to fight in Aries or sitting next to Mars? Is she more of a seducer than an 'attractor' in Scorpio or in your 8th house?)

The Venus Star Point will now be in a new sign - Capricorn (the sign that rules authority, time, structure), a new element - cardinal earth (solid physical manifestation), and a new stage in her cycle - Evening Star. Can we say "feminine energy rising"? Can we say "self-rule"? Can we say "bringing these energies into material manifestation" - stuff we can touch, taste and smell (um, not sure I really want to smell the patriarchy dissolving, I am imaging sweaty gym socks here). Can we say all of this three times fast? Me, neither.

And this isn't about men vs women. We all have both masculine and feminine energies within us that have been out of whack for thousands of years. 

(and I open the news and see headlines about women at the Golden Globes and Oprah's speech about Recy Taylor)

So, what house holds 19 degrees Capricorn in our natal chart? What is that house theme? What was happening here 4 years ago - January 2014? 8 years ago - January 2010?

This is our own little plot of land. This is our space to hoe/seed/tend. This is our JOB now.

This space is being cosmically cleared to enable our plantings. Just like an eclipse would do.

In yesterday's post I wrote (by sign - check your RISING SIGN or if you know your Capricorn natal house check the post for that) about what is in this for us, but this is Capricorn so there is also something REQUIRED OF US.

Capricorn is about ownership. We own it AND we own it (take responsibility for it).

Venus attracts. So, this isn't about about going into battle to SEIZE the land. That's the old way of thinking about ownership. We attract it now by tending to it, by desiring it, by being alluring and calling it to us.

This is the real opportunity now.

And remember to own it we have to OWN IT (take responsibility for it). We have given too much power away to too many naked emperors. Worked too many farms for somebody else. Tended too many gardens whose flowers went into other people's bouquets.

Let's take some kind of action, symbolic totally works, to claim ownership of what we want this week. Then be prepared to step into our responsibility and work like hell for it. 

xo all