Astrology Forecast for Today | October 6th - focusing on the details, getting things done, paperwork, getting organized, pet therapy, drifting off course, knots untying, solutions that look better than they actually are or maybe our problem just dissolves, fragile emotional states, lack of boundaries, maybe time for a primal scream

nothing by Nira Gonzalez

We looked at some bigger picture stuff yesterday, today let's focus in on the details - sometimes it is best to take things day by day, even moment by moment. 

The dark Moon moved into Virgo at 7:15PM EDT on Friday night. Our focus will likely turn to Virgo matters for the next couple days - our daily activities, our work, our pets, getting paperwork done and things organized.

We wake on SATURDAY with the Virgo Moon trining (brakes off) stable Saturn. This is good energy to be productive, focus on our goals - get things done. Good energy for business. We can be practical and orderly. The Moon moves into a trine with Vesta (in Capricorn and sitting 3 degrees from Saturn) - we can emotionally focus now on whatever we are devoted to - it has our attention.

After lunch the Moon will sextile (opportunity) a retrograde Venus in Scorpio - our relationship can feel supportive, we are working together, we can get along with other people.

The mood changes in the PM (if you are sensitive to Neptune or lunar changes you will likely feel this sooner, it could even color your entire day) when the Moon moves into her monthly opposition with Neptune at 7:05PM EDT.

Things fog up a bit. It is harder to know what is true. Our ideas could be unrealistic. Information leaks out. We lose our focus. We drift off course. Our emotions are too stretched to be trusted right now.

Having this energy on a Saturday night is probably better than a Monday morning though.

We'll roll with it.

Saturday night would be a good time to go to a movie, make art, meditate, do something healing. Our thinking will be imaginative.

I will be using this energy meditating (Neptune) with my dog (Virgo) - trying to figure out what she wants me to do for her. I have no idea what this will look like. I am sure hubs (Virgo rising) will try to have me committed (Neptune) shortly thereafter, so if I am not back here tomorrow you will know where I am. Send chocolate and a chisel.

Shortly after that Neptune opposition, the Moon moves into a nice trine with Pluto, so a skillful use of our emotional energy could lead to a success now .... prayers for that one.

xo all

I guess Kavanaugh is getting seated. Venus (feminine), moving backward and in her detriment with Mars (masculine) starting to soar again certainly helped him. The dark of the Moon, ripe for backroom dealings did, too. Saturn in Capricorn can't be underestimated. I guess the power of the collective zeitgeist (his personal story's ability to embody the current energies) overrode somewhat the loss and self-sabotage shown in his personal chart. Let's see what collective muck gets dug up in October and what happens in November when Venus gets back into her home sign. We are playing a long game. And we are in the final stretch and the first quarter at the same time ....

If we are feeling triggered we could ask ourselves when was the last time we were ANGRY. Not sad. Not disappointed. Not annoyed or pissed off. Not restrained. But screaming out loud, smashing things to bits ANGRY.




The Moon goes void SUNDAY morning at 10:03AM EDT off a sextile to expansive Jupiter, then stays void until 9:10PM EDT. Take it easy on Sunday. Relax. Set that circus down ...

Venus Stations Retrograde | relationships and money and women and what we value and how we value ourselves gets re-assessed, maybe life feels like a high stakes poker game, what are we willing to bet? what do we love NOW? and are we too focused on what isn't ours?

Drive. Through the Shadow. by A. Finch

Venus stations retrograde today at 10 degrees Scorpio. I wrote about it HERE

This retrograde is reminiscent of one 8 years ago when she stationed at 13 degrees Scorpio on October 7, 2010. We might find similar themes playing out in our life over the next few weeks.

On Halloween she will get back into the sign of Libra and continue moving backward until she gets all the way back to 25 degrees Libra (November 16th) and then she will station direct and start moving forward - walking again, this time direct, all the degrees she has walked before.

So the degrees from 25 Libra (which Venus first walked back on September 3rd when she kicked this whole season off) through 10 degrees Scorpio are the "hot" spots for this retrograde. She won't be covering entirely new ground until the middle of December when she sextiles Saturn and moves past 10 degrees Scorpio.

Venus is considered in her detriment in Scorpio AND during her retrograde she will be traveling through the "Via Combusta". Via Combusta are the degrees between 15 Libra and 15 Scorpio - that ancient astrologers labelled some of the most challenging degrees of the zodiac because both the Moon and the Sun (the lights of the zodiac) are in their "fall" and the so-called "malefic" planets - Saturn (exalted in Libra) and Mars (co-ruler of Scorpio) are strong.

So, Venus (as us) has her work cut out for her over the next few weeks.

NOTE - the New Moon on Monday is on 15 degrees Libra!

I don't want to rehash what I wrote in THIS post, except to say while Venus is retrograde we will be doing the "re's" with Venusian themes - women, beauty, art, love, money, our resources, our values and self-esteem. Someone from our past could re-appear. An old way of making art or love or money could re-appear. A situation we have been through before with Scorpian themes could reappear. We will be "reviewing" the things we value. In Scorpio this will play out through Scorpian themes - other people's money, big money, loans, inheritances, debts, sex, life/death issues, reproduction, shared scenarios, power struggles, jealousy, third party situations including triangles. Venus retrograde can also play out through the themes of our natal ruled Libra and Taurus houses.

We will get to some kind of cross-roads with whatever it is we are going through by around October 26th-31st when Venus will oppose Uranus bringing sudden changes and unexpected situations. Both planets will be in a Grand Cross with both the North Node (in Leo) and the South Node (in Aquarius) so whatever is going on will have the stamp of FATE marked clearly upon it.

And remember although Venus will be opposing Uranus, Uranus is in Taurus answering to Venus! Also keep in mind that Mercury is in Libra (answering to Venus), Uranus is in Taurus (answering to Venus), the Sun is in Libra (answering to Venus), Ceres is in Libra (answering to Venus) and the Moon will be in Libra (answering to Venus) for the New Moon on Monday - that's alot of our energy in the hands of Venus as she dives through the muck of mid-Scorpio!

October will dig up some relationship and financial challenges, but we can see the light at the end of the tunnel isn't a train - it's the Venusian Goddess herself in November as she backs into her home sign of Libra. She will still be retrograde, but we should be able to regain some balance. She will also have a stabilizing sextile to Saturn beginning the third week of October that should help.

We have been through some rocky waters since May, that have probably never really smoothed out. Note - the goal here isn't really about them smoothing out! If we make our goal for things to "smooth out" we won't be reaching that goal anytime soon. We are in the Age of Aquarius - things aren't smoothing out.

We need to find a way to live and love through rapidly changing times.

Now with Mars finally starting to cover new degrees next week we have the masculine energy literally revving up at the same time the feminine energy is struggling for air!

And Venus is squaring Mars as she stations! And Jupiter - moving through his long journey in Scorpio and preparing to move home to Sagittarius next month (!) - is finally leaving his retrograde shadow, too.

Plus this week we have had Mercury squaring Pluto. This is our mind being detonated with one of those Wiley Coyote stacks of dynamite. The Moon has been in sensitive Cancer so we are feeling our way through whatever is going on.

This stuff ain't for sissies.

Venus retrograde - all 40 days and 40 night of it - will have us re-assessing BIG themes in our lives.

The world is going to look so different by next spring. Let's not put any more pressure on ourselves right now than we have to - there is enough outside pressure already!

Let's take care of what is front in front of us. Let's do what is sensible. Let's give ourselves some air and some room to breath. Decisions are challenging during Libra season anyway and we will spend time agonizing over things that in reality are out of our hands anyway ...

Venus in Scorpio is going to make everything feel like life and death, and although some situations might be, many more situations will be playing out very differently than we expect them to over the next few months.

2018 is a bridge year (and yes, for many people it feels like one of those rope bridges swaying high over a bed of jagged rocks) carrying us into the changes of 2019/2020.

We don't usually have Mars and Venus retrograde in the same year - and we are all walking spaces we have never walked before AND in the middle of all this the nodes are going to switch from Leo/Aquarius to Cancer/Capricorn. This is all quite unprecedented.

The first aspect Venus retrograde will make is that square to Mars (in Aquarius) early next week, so we don't want to be overthinking everything right now. Keep that in mind. Or out of mind maybe.

xo all

Mercury Square Pluto, 3rd Quarter Square Moon | power struggles, facing the truth, words are power, news and information, honoring ourselves, hard to cooperate, growing ourselves up, eating the damn apple

autumn by Art-de-Viant

The sensitive Cancer Moon (people with planets/points around 9 degrees of the cardinal signs - Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn - will feel this most strongly) reaches its third quarter square of the month with the Libra Sun.

This is tension/stress. The 3rd quarter Moon is a time of crisis. Summer squares autumn.

This is about the themes of our Cancer/Libra houses or the collective Cancer/Libra themes of relationship insecurities, relationship imbalances, what is fair, what is just. Think about those Libran scales and look through the lens of Cancer (peeking out of her shell - is she safe here?).

The resolution will come through honoring ourselves - our safety, our security, our self-nourishment - AND coming into balance with the other person's position - compromise, cooperation, diplomacy.

Have we been neglecting our own needs/wants to stay in relationship with someone/something? On the other hand have we been unrealistically looking to someone/something else to mother our grown-up selves? Cancer is both the mother and the baby.

Saturn is opposing the Moon now, so we could feel like giving up. Let's not turn a corner into a dark alley just to avoid feeling uncomfortable.

We also have the exact square between Mercury and Pluto today - this one has been in play for a couple days and will take a couple days to unwind itself.

Mercury (communications, information, thinking) from 18 degrees Libra is squaring Pluto (power, life/death, big money/finances) at 18 degrees Capricorn.

Whatever we are thinking about/talking about - will be INTENSE, powerful, deep - maybe bitter.

With Pluto (ruler of that murky Scorpio 8th house) there are secrets and back door deals.

We don't know what we don't know. We can't see what we can't see. It is safe to assume we are not getting the full picture.

Mercury in Libra wants to just push this whole mess under the bed, slap on some lipstick and pretend everything is a OK. That isn't going to work now. Pluto rules Scorpio - the sign that follows Libra. The guy is dragged out from under the bed, the pretty lipstick gets smudged, the angry husband shows up with a shotgun - everything is clearly not a OK.

Some examples of how this energy is playing out with people I know - 1. someone is being audited this week. Mercury (which rules Virgo as well as Gemini - the details, the paperwork, the dotting of the i's and crossing of the t's) squaring Pluto (the tax man, power, other people's money). 2. Someone else is dealing with bankers - this is a similar dynamic and again there is a certain innate unfairness and imbalance (Libra) built into the situation because one side has the power.

3. Someone else is dealing with the reading (Mercury) of a will (Pluto) in a complicated family situation with power struggles. 4. I am dealing with Olive's (Mercury rules Virgo and Virgo rules pets) life/death (Pluto) health issues and surgery again.

All kinds of buried crap is hitting all kinds of fans this week (last week and next also).

This is the stuff coming out from under the bed - I hope for you it's just a few dust bunnies and there aren't any real monsters under there. Are there real monsters? Here's where we need to put on our big girl pants and assure our seven year old self we can handle this.

So what do we do?

Don't pour pink paint and pretend everything is OK. That paint is going to chip and we will be right back here again with an even bigger mess - and there won't be enough paint to cover this anyway.

Whatever it is we are afraid to look at - LOOK DEEPER. The expression - "the truth hurts, but the truth will also set you free" comes to mind here. 

Don't allow someone to manipulate you into something you don't agree with/something that takes away your security. Maybe we need to channel our Black Moon Lilith who is hooked up with Mars today - the powerful are not the only ones with power now.

Don't manipulate someone else and call it persuasion. Keep it real.

We need to be smart and tactful. We need to see/feel the other person's point of view (maybe that is the space where we need to look deeper?).

We may need to stand up for ourselves and we definitely need to take care of ourselves.

Situations will likely have an undercurrent about power and control (maybe life and death or could feel like life and death - which BTW is hard on our physical bodies which can't tell the difference, so take care of yours) and there won't be easy solutions/compromises.

Words are powerful now. We could burn the whole place down with our language today, so be careful.

This is excellent energy for research, delving deeply into some information, journaling, therapy, working out a puzzle, getting to the bottom of a legal matter.


xo all

An example now with the Kavanaugh story playing out in the U.S. collective is understanding HIS-story. Yes, I know we have thousands of years of understanding HIS-story. But LOOK DEEPER.

I was reminded yesterday by someone's Facebook post about the 80's classic Sixteen Candles that "rape in the 1980's wasn't something done by acquaintances at house parties" - remember the scene where the very drunk girl was handed from one boy to another (weren't they the hero boys in the film or am I remembering this incorrectly?) like a sex doll. In the movie, this was all a joke and good, clean fun. We are reminded this was the culture at the time. It's not an excuse. But it does allow us some way into HIS-story if we need one. And we do. Need one.

Because we carry all these archetypes within us.

And we have reached a point in time where it is just too painful to continue on in an un-integrated state. It is no longer possible to just stuff our own fear. It is no longer possible to just ram things through. The polarity within us just stops us dead in our tracks. We must face it directly and resolve the "split" within us in order to be able to move forward at all now. This is why we are feeling more "prevented" and "opposed" than ever. We can push the blame onto the other person or the situation for a time, but it won't stay "pushed" for long now before it pushes back!

Note - this doesn't mean I think Kavanugh should or will be appointed to the Supreme Court. No, I don't (hell, no) and the astrology looks like this storyline is definitely not wrapping up in week. Venus is going retrograde this week, to dig something up in Scorpio (!), and she won't be hitting new degrees until 2019.

And yes, I am being totally triggered by all of this, too.

Looking at 80's culture (and how it has evolved) is just a tool I can use to help integrate the part of me that - wants what it wants, that feels entitled to it, that played by the "rules" at the time (that aren't the rules now) and didn't get my "pay-off", that is foaming at the mouth angry.

Astrology Forecast for Creatives | Week of October 1st - women not taking any sh*t, compromise needed, words are uber powerful, if you don't want to burn something down better hold your tongue, if you do want to burn something down this would be the time to speak up, secrets spill, possible bad news, get to bed early

toxic city 03 by Art-de-Viant

We start the week with Pluto direct (18 degrees Capricorn) after his five month retrograde (since April 22nd).

He will move forward until April 23, 2019 when, at 23 degrees Capricorn he will again station retrograde

(my besieged 21 degree Capricorn Mercury needed to lie down today upon realizing this (!) since I am getting FIVE passes of Pluto, except with Pluto the lying down could be in a big old wooden box, so I probably shouldn't even joke about this).

Pluto is retrograde for almost half the year - imagine what Scorpio (rising, like me) people could do if their ruling planet wasn't retrograde almost half the year. I imagine how nice it must be to be a Leo rising with your ruling planet (the Sun) never stationing retrograde, but then think about those Gemini and Virgo risings who must feel like they pretty much have to do everything twice! Ugh!

In October, Pluto is going to cross the ecliptic from North to South for the first time since 1770 - Pluto literally returning to the underworld AND at a time when Jupiter (in Scorpio) is answering to him AND when Venus is retrograding through Scorpio and answering to him. Also interesting that Pluto stations direct - in mythology Pluto is the rapist of Persephone (Ceres' daughter) - the same week Venus (ruler of women) stations retrograde - while the United States is embroiled in the Kavanaugh nomination mess.

But first Mercury is going to have a conversation with Pluto this week - likely one we aren't going to like, so let's take a look at the week ahead.

Here are the major aspects I see:

MONDAY  - Mars conjuncts Black Moon Lilith (in Aquarius)
TUESDAY - Mercury (in Libra) squares Pluto (in Capricorn)
FRIDAY - Venus stations retrograde (in Scorpio)
SATURDAY - Mercury opposes Eris
SUNDAY - the Sun conjuncts Ceres (in Libra)

So, this looks like another stressful, intense week for many of us. Remember we are all in this together - we'll get through this.

On MONDAY, the Moon enters Cancer at 2PM EDT ending a more than 24 hour void. In Cancer, we could find our focus turning to home, family, home business, mom, country, yada, yada for the next couple days. We will want to hunker down, maybe even hide out. Everyone will be more sensitive. Keep this in mind.

At 4:29PM EDT, the Cancer Moon sextiles unpredictable Uranus (in Taurus). We want to do something different. A change of pace is required. Opportunity comes from doing something else. At 7:18PM EDT the Moon opposes Saturn. There are limits, responsibilities, emotions get repressed, people become more inflexible.

Todays' big news, Mars (in Aquarius) once again - yes, another repeat - conjuncts Black Moon Lilith (the angry outsider). We last had these two meet on August 10th. This is the uncontrolled masculine and the outsider feminine together. This is the volatility of the male/female power imbalance. Sparks will fly. We might struggle against some kind of domination as we are, once again, reminded of all the ways we don't quite fit in. We are older and wiser than we were on August 10th, but a cotton sheet will still feel like a lead blanket. We might need to run screaming into the woods with this one ....

On TUESDAY, we have the last quarter Moon at 5:45AM EDT, when the Cancer Moon squares the Libra Sun. This is a crisis point in the Moon's monthly cycle. The square to Libra speaks of the need for balance, justice and compromise. This isn't about us giving in or pouring pink paint over a problem, but to work with Libra we do need to acknowledge there are two sides to every story.

At 8:18AM EDT then Moon will trine (brakes off) a seductive Venus (in Scorpio). This is women getting along with other women. This is being social and what we want and what we need coming together. This is that balance we were seeking early this morning, so I guess we get it. It might be subtle though. By 2:48PM EDT the Moon has moved on to a compassionate, imaginative trine with dreamy Neptune. We have a Grand Water Trine going on now making everyone more sensitive, but also more sensitive to each other. Our boundaries are thin. Addictions attract. Escape hatches open.

The big news Tuesday, and this is exact on Tuesday, but in play all week is Mercury's square to a newly direct Pluto. This speaks of powerful conversations/communications. WORDS ARE POWERFUL. We, and other people, can be very persuasive, but equally manipulative (what is the difference exactly? I guess whether we are the one doing the talking or someone else is!). Secrecy. Obsessive thoughts. Paranoia. Jealousy. Possibly bad news comes in. This could be relationship vs career stuff. Our words can be misconstrued. Things could feel like life and death and they might actually be about life and death. Information could be used to gain power over other people now. We might discover something someone in power has done wrong - this could be a big news theme in the collective, too. Secrets get spilled. Some people's motivations will be deeper and darker than we expect - check your motivations before opening your mouth folks! People will be audacious. Yes, audacious.

Stay frosty.

Watch your language, but if you actually want to burn the house (your job, your marriage, etc) down with your mouth this would be the time.

Again this week's themes of "who has the power?", "who is in control?" are in play.

This is good energy for research, investigations, writing a mystery novel (get working on that one, will ya') and getting to the bottom of things. 

Then at 10:10PM EDT the Moon moves into her monthly opposition with Pluto - what else can happen?! Best to avoid emotional entanglements. Just stay home and go to bed. But then, of course, because what else,  just a few minutes later the Moon will square Mercury making our minds restless, maybe preoccupied with the past - it could be hard to fall asleep.

OK, so we get to sleep by 8:30PM EDT on Tuesday.

We wake on WEDNESDAY to a Void Moon until she moves into Leo at 5:12PM EDT. Wednesday would not be a good day to start anything new or push anything important out into the world (unless it is your tax return) because nothing will come of it. And if you don't believe this, keep in mind, Obama started his second term - yes, the one Trump has been busy dismantling - on a Void Moon. Void moons are good energy to work on things already in progress - we can often get alot done.

The Moon's move into Leo will turn our focus to Leo themes - children, self-expression, creativity, fun, recreation, romance - for the next couple days.

At 7:29PM EDT the Leo Moon will square Uranus (in Taurus). We will be feeling more impulsive and independent, and so will other people - not such good energy for interacting with others. Expect the unexpected.

OK, so on Wednesday night we go to sleep by 6:30PM EDT.

On THURSDAY the Leo Moon will oppose Mars (in Aquarius, for what seems like forever) at 5:31AM EDT. This could make for a challenging morning.

BUT by 12:19PM EDT the Leo Moon is sextiling (opportunity) the Libra Sun. This last sextile between the Moon and Sun before the New Moon is excellent energy for creativity and collaboration. This is a good time for business and meeting people. Good for romance, activities with children, putting something out there you can be proud of.  

Actually if you are pushing something out into the world this week - from now until Venus stations retrograde on Friday at 3:05PM - it is pretty much all systems GO (keeping in mind I can't see your natal).

OK, back later in the week with the rest of that Venus retrograde series and to finish out this week. See Part I about Venus retrograde HERE.

Whatever this Venus retrograde will be about for you - you know it, it is already in play.

xo all

Think wine, hot baths and "this too shall pass" this week