The astrology of 2020 | part IV - major pivot points ahead, revolutionary prepwork, staying flexible, holding the light

I have put off looking too far ahead with everything that is happening and tried to just focus on the BIG picture. I sometimes think I should be looking/thinking ahead, but then feel my energy sucked into a great big void when I sit down to actually wrote about it.

We are being asked to embody a whole new program and it is going to take some time to download!

Our lives are like those little hourglasses spinning around on the screen.

It's not the best time to be looking. But let's look a little bit ahead anyway, keeping in mind you need to use your discernment because it is a time of looking within and who really knows how ineptly I could be viewing all this right now with my own stellium so activated .... :)

Anyhoo, here goes.

At the end of April, a HUGE shift will begin as Pluto stations retrograde. Normally Pluto's retrograde station isn't something we can personally feel (unless it is hitting an important point in our natal chart), but when the planet of death (and rebirth) starts backing up during a pandemic, I think that is going to mean something.

He stations retrograde squaring Mercury (in fiery Aries!) - suspicion, angry words, verbal manipulations and power plays - we are heading for something BIG here.

And just days before mercurial Mercury takes over the North Node!

APRIL 25TH - Pluto stations retrograde (death postponed, outer transformation becomes inner transformation, mess to be cleaned up before he stations direct in October) *
MAY 5TH - NORTH NODE INTO GEMINI, SOUTH NODE INTO SAGITTARIUS - this is also the trigger date for next month's first Eclipse
MAY 7TH - Full Moon in Scorpio (which will be ruled by that retrograde Pluto)
MAY 11TH - Saturn stations retrograde* (rules/limits relax, endings postponed)
MAY 13TH - Venus stations retrograde
MAY 14TH - Jupiter stations retrograde (expansion ends)
MAY 17TH - Pallas stations retrograde

By the middle of May, FIVE planets/bodies will be retrograde (!) including Saturn, Pluto and Jupiter - the energies that kicked this whole thing off - see January HERE

AND the North Node, our best path forward, will be out of Cancer (home, family, our inner life) and the South Node, what we we have stirred up to see what should stay and what we should leave behind, out of Capricorn (work, our outer life). 

So, by mid-May, this first phase of the pandemic will be shifting gears. And this shifting could involve alot of grinding, stops and starts, but should involve a backward momentum - death postponed, time to clean up the mess, rules relaxed, endings delayed.

(Just as I write this, hubs who is going to need a serious YouTube rehab when this is all over - for I have no idea what reason, but synchronistically shows me a video of a guy in a brand new, fancy race-boat backing away from the off-ramp into the water and suddenly putting the boat into forward motion and slamming back into the ramp. "I guess he has wrecked the bottom of his new boat", I say. "And his engine", he adds.)

Let's proceed with a slow and steady backing up plan here. Let's get turned around before we hit that throttle.

Now, because the medical establishment thinks this virus could 'return' in the fall/winter

(and the news media have saturated our consciousnesses with this, and keep in mind, they also think and the media reports the virus may be unaffected by weather and not disappear in the summer, so as to cover all their foggy bases, no doubt)

AND because the astrology could be said to support this - since we are talking about pivots/a slowdown coming through retrograde periods, it is possible this is just what will happen.

Sooner or later the retrograde planets will start moving direct again and we will be back where we were in the spring, although older and wiser.

Jupiter stations direct mid-September (bringing him back to mid-May), Saturn at the end of September (back to mid-May) and Pluto the beginning of October (back to the end of April).

So, by the time Jupiter meets Pluto for the third and final time, near 11/11/2020 (!) - and we have ALOT of other things going on around that time - we could be back in the soup. Again.

Of course, it is also possible, because, here in the United States, this date is one week after the U.S. election - we will not be back in the same soup, but an entirely different pot.

In the United States this is all happening in the United States second house (our money, values, self-esteem) and in opposition to our natal Mercury (so driven by health, Mercury being the ruler of Virgo the sign of our health and driven by the media/news/information, Mercury also being the ruler of Gemini, ruler of information and ideas not all of which are accurate or true), and is part of our upcoming American Revolution Part II (Pluto return 2022), so all bets are kind of off with this one.

Keep in mind, Plutonian transits - and we just had a collective doozy of a Plutonian transit - Pluto/Saturn - and are in the middle of another Plutonian transit, this second one a three-peat - Pluto/Jupiter (April, August and November) - are PERMANENT. 

There isn't a magic wand that will be waved and put us back where we were before. 

Pluto wipes away "back there" - it simply doesn't exist anymore.

This will mean different things to different people.

Whether we are going to rise from our death bed's sweaty sheets or lock the doors and take to our beds forever is entirely up to each of us.

This "permanent change" (and I am not talking about masks and 'social distancing' here) isn't a totally bad thing and, yes, we might have to stretch and reach for the things we can label as good for a awhile.

And if we do this we will find them because they are and will be EVERYWHERE.

We'll talk about this more as we move through this.

*****

Now, this summer is going to have THREE eclipses, so there is alot of change and alot in flux throughout the summer. Eclipses have alot of staying power, work forward and backward and move through cycles.

Eclipses are cosmic course corrections. Things get eclipsed out or out of our way. We get a re-set. Things come to light or to a conclusion. There isn't much we can control about Eclipse energies.

Lunar Eclipse Full Moons (two of the three this summer) are a bit different than regular Full Moons because they are happening on the Moon's South Node - the Moon is full but its light is blocked by the earth's shadow. So although things are still concluding and 'coming to light' other stuff is hidden, too. Nothing is exactly as it seems. Sometimes we think we have failed and then something flips on us. Or we are patting ourselves on the back for a big win and the client calls with revisions that require many hours work. Sometimes much bigger, more important things are obscured in the shadows.

If we are looking for things to settle down - that probably isn't going to happen.

JUNE 5TH - Full Moon Lunar Eclipse (15 degrees Sag) squaring Mars - I sometimes find Eclipse events happen pretty much exactly one month before or after the actual Eclipse date - so this takes us back to May 5th when the Nodes change signs, there could be a dramatic event then, and it takes us forward to July 5th which is that third-wheel Lunar Eclipse in the middle of Capricorn possibly giving this Eclipse extra oomph, so all three dates are POWERFUL indicators for change.
JUNE 18TH - Mercury stations retrograde (in Cancer right in the middle of the eclipses!)
JUNE 21ST - New Moon Solar Eclipse (1 degree Cancer, hours after Summer Solstice)
JUNE 23RD - Neptune stations retrograde
JUNE 25TH - Venus stations direct
JUNE 27th - Mars enters Aries - where he will be, due to his upcoming retrograde, FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR. And during which time he will square Pluto three times - August, October and December. Keep in mind that Pluto moves very slowly and is going to be within a couple degrees of his January position all year, so any contact with Pluto activates the Saturn/Pluto AND it activates the Jupiter/Pluto.
JUNE 30th -  Jupiter conjuncts Pluto (for the second time, this is the conjunction where they are both retrograde)
JULY 5TH - Full Moon Lunar Eclipse (13 degrees Capricorn)

So, June, and into the first week or so of July, just looks like a WILD RIDE - almost anything can happen!

You can see there are just too many pivot points to make anything more than educated guesses about what will happen.We are just going to have to hang on loosely.

Just like we could see at the January 2020 eclipse that 'mama-bear standing all alone against the world' and we could see 'time running out' at the January Saturn/Pluto pow-wow, but we couldn't see the collision course of all of this resulting in this exact pandemic/time-out.

I am posting this as the Sun squares that Jupiter/Pluto and as Mercury meets with Chiron. This is tricky energy. And we are still in this 'waiting' space. Mercury/Chiron here is kind of like we have an idea of who we are and then we defend it on a mental level. And then here is life - this stellium at the end of Capricorn/beginning of Aquarius - pushing to change us. Demanding we interact with life on life's terms and not our own.

We are heading into a nodal shift to Gemini/Sagittarius - we want to be holding on very loosely to our ideals and our ideas. We have to be flexible. We have to trust (Jupiter!) that we have what we need for this time we are living through. We have to trust this will all work out in the end (because it will, this is assured - this doesn't mean we get to sit this one out and not participate though, this has clearly been brought home to all of us in the last month).

In the iChing - ARGUING follows waiting. And 'arguing for something' makes a much better beginning than it does an ending. We'll talk about that in tomorrow's post.

xo all

I have had a few people write me about conspiracy theories and about Bill Gates global agenda with vaccines that can be tracked inside our bodies (or ability to change the world through tech/science, depending on how you look at it and both are true probably), so I took a look at his chart and will do a full post about it. It is very interesting with mega-ties to these times. He has a natal Jupiter/Pluto conjunction - huge power potential here - and it exactly trines Neptune, so no limits. His natal Chiron is at 0 degrees Aquarius, Uranus is on his ascendant and his Nodes are Sagittarius/Gemini, so opposite the new Nodes we are heading into. A person with a natal Jupiter/Pluto conjunction in a year when we have three Jupiter Pluto conjunctions is going to be mega-activated. Mega-powerful. One problem I see ahead for Bill's plans - for good or ill - is that nodal opposition because Hillary had that when she looked like she was going to win and then didn't and that natal Chiron opposing his important Uranus - his Achille's heel at the important degree of 0 Aquarius, another uber activated degree, especially at the end of the year when Jupiter meets Saturn. On the other hand that could be his ace in the hole depending on what he does with it. We will take a better look! In the meantime try not to get too caught up in conspiracy theories - true or untrue we can't tell - and even if powerful nefarious forces are at work rest assured God/the Universe/love is stronger than any of them and knows what he/she is doing with all of this!

photo by the amazing Brooke Shaden

Astrology Forecast for Creatives | Week of April 13th 2020 - power struggles, resistance, proof, words hurt, words heal, the end of the week gets better - hang in there

There is lots of Aries energy this week, folks - which means action, initiative, passion, impulsivity, anger, relationship challenges, opportunities to stand up and opportunities to stand alone.

The Sun is squaring off with that January activation point now, currently the home of some powerful players - when people tell us to stay "safe" we can add "and sane" - it seems four letter "S" words are our friend now.

TUESDAY - Sun squares Pluto
WEDNESDAY - Sun squares Jupiter, Mercury conjuncts Chiron
SATURDAY - Mercury sextiles Venus, Mercury sextiles Mars

BEGINNING/MIDDLE OF THE WEEK

We start the week with the Moon moving into sober Capricorn. This can sometimes feel heavy/depressing anyway, focus us on "winter"/what we don't have, and now adds to the pressure of the Capricorn planets.

We are nurtured by stepping into our responsibilities, work, planning, limits, setting down rules. Taking care of business. Money in the bank and food in the cupboard - we are nurtured by the stuff we have earned.

The Sun (almost through his Aries journey) will square Pluto and then Jupiter. He is also squaring the activation point of January's mega Cappy pow-wow energies. At the same time Mercury is meeting up with hurting/healing Chiron.

This stuff isn't for sissies.

The solar squares are magnified pressure/power/fear.

Something is illuminated. PROOF of what the Jupiter/Pluto 2020 storyline is giving us. 

(this PROOF will be different things to different people - some will see the dry "facts" we are provided with as "truth", others will see conspiracy theories actualized or dissolved and others will see the light they are holding "the positive in what is happening" spotlighted in deeper ways - there are not any right or wrong answers here - this is a process and not a test - everyone is needed and playing an important role now) 

Squares are tension/frustration. Aries/Capricorn is our individual action/passion/purpose vs authority/knowledge that our personal power can be stripped away from us.

Power struggles. Resistance. Tangles with authority will most likely not go our way.

Keep in mind Pluto is always death/rebirth - transformation through the 'dark night of the soul'. We evolve through loss - merging/purging. There isn't any way to hurry this stuff along or away. It just is. Pushing/manipulating as a way to hang onto something that is "dead" (ie no prana, no breath, no life-force) creates tension/frustration.

Avoid impulsive situations where you can be manipulated and check yourself before using these dark powers.

Know with these energies triggering, arguably, the biggest activation point of our lifetimes -  

we need to be strong and brave because we are going to have to face the dark/our fears/any spaces that lack love.

(I have had a few emails from people asking if the astrology looks like this upside down world we are living in is a conspiracy. Life on planet Earth doesn't allow us to have all the answers. Are there illusions/power plays/manipulations here? Undoubtedly. But, keep in mind, this is still a free-will planet and a space of polarity. We can't always control what happens to us, but we do get to control how we respond. We can choose our focus. There are always going to be times when the dark/the fear (because our operating system is really only love and lack of love/fear) gets to play its hand. Just keep in mind, these are transits, ie transitory. We are forever, but these circumstances aren't. We are co-creating a totally different world - maybe what looks harsh and hard is actually the gentlest way to get us there.)

Aries squares can stimulate situations where we are forced to step up and assert ourselves.

At the same time we have Mercury (in Aries now) meeting hurting/healing Chiron. 

Sharp/impulsive language can activate our deepest wounds and insecurities.

Although painful, there are words that probably need to be said/heard. Conversations that need to happen. Information that needs to be looked at.

For some people Mercury will trigger hurting/healing through a sibling/local community or transportation situation.

Still, check your language. Mercury in Aries can use his/her words as weapons. Be thoughtful (ie thinking about what you are saying and the way you are saying it).

Chiron in Aries forms a natural opposition to Libra (and this is part of the Aries/Libra polarity dance) - this would be a time when the other people in our lives, and the people we meet, who have the energetic frequencies that can easily re-wound us (trigger our early wounding/past life wounds/familial karma), will do just that.

Also, keep in mind with Chiron in Aries - no one is coming along to save us. As the Hopi would say - we are the ones we have been waiting for.

We are going to have to pull our own fat asses out of this well. 

When we are the one being triggered (and we will know we are being triggered because our emotions will be out of proportion to what is being said) we can step back a little - that Mars in Aquarius - and think about why this triggering in us.

Why are we so mad/hurt about these words?

We can have compassion for ourselves. Know we are safe/loved/worthy. Know this is just what we needed to hear right now to see what we need to see/feel what we need to feel.

As we heal ourselves we heal everyone else, too.

At the same time Venus (who is now walking degrees in Gemini she will walk two more times) makes her first of three sextiles (opportunities) to Black Moon Lilith - right now at 8 degrees Aries. Maybe we are attracted to something outside the box now. Something taboo. This is a long story-line that takes us into the end of July. With Venus in Gemini, our values are changing. Again there is the need to bring everyone, and every part of ourselves, to the table this year.

By the middle of the week the Moon will make her way into Aquarius (with so much going on at the end of Cappy/beginning of Aquarius, she avoids any void and we don't get any void Moons until Friday which is unusual). We can emotionally take a step back to process what is going on.

Now we are nurtured through our groups, through the goals that bring us into connection with other people, by allowing our freak-flag to fly, by the new and unusual, through technology and Aquarian/Uranian people. We will talk about the Moon more in the dailies.

END OF THE WEEK

The end of the week looks BETTER. The Moon moves into nostalgic, emotional, intuitive and imaginative Pisces. We are nurtured through art, music, the past, our ancestors, what is behind us, stuff we can't touch, water, actual Pisces/Neptunian people, maybe nurtured through our rose-colored glasses, but sometimes we need rose-colored glasses and our masks are fogging our glasses up anyway. 

Mercury (almost to the middle of Aries - she is flying, people!) sextiles both Venus (in Gemini) and Mars (in Aquarius). Our words/conversations/information are now HELPING us attract and take action on what we want. 

There is flow. There are opportunities here.

Back with the big picture timelines - which I know I have been promising for-evah - and the dailies!

xo all

photo by the amazing oprisco

Today's Astrology Forecast | Saturday, April 11, 2020 - more clarity, new thinking, our perspective shifts, impulsive ideas face some restraint which only makes them better, translating the old into the new, something is collectively noticed

The Moon in optimistic, big-picture and faith-holding Sagittarius opposes Venus at 3:27AM EDT and then sextiles (opportunity) Mars at 6:03AM EDT which will color the day.

The BIG news, Mercury finally gets out of the Pisces soup (he's been here since February!) and begins a new cycle in fiery Aries.

The conversation changes. New plans. New ideas. Mercury in Aries is so fast, she/he can solve problems before we even know we have a problem! This is going to be a fast transit (only through April 27th), but that's all we will need for our thinking/the conversation/ideas to SHIFT.

Our language and thinking becomes more focused, clear-headed and passionate.

Mercury (ideas, thinking, language) in Aries puts our instinct into words. Our mind gets faster. Our tongue gets sharper. Words get pushy.

It is easier to speak up for ourselves and ask for what we want/need.

We can also more easily pick an argument as language becomes more competitive. Mercury in Aries says, "I know what I think and this is what I think."

The silence that was so golden in Pisces - gets broken in Aries.

The best use of this transit would be saying what we really think - and yes, this can get us into trouble, so we won't be an ass about it - keep in mind Aries' impulses can be either self-aggrandizing and immature or soulful and sparking a needed fire - also solving a problem (fire brings fresh insights), initiating a new course of study and creating a bold, 'hot-off-the-press' plan. The choice is ours.

Think - fresh start with Mercury themes - words, thinking, writing, learning, teaching, ideas, sibling issues, transportation, your local community. Also bringing fresh words and fresh thinking into your Aries house theme. What house does Aries rule in your natal chart? What is the theme of that house?

Immediately, Mercury moves into a sextile with sober Saturn (now at the very beginning of Aquarius). We can take something from the past (or a limit/responsibility) and use it now in these challenging times. Translate the old into the new. New language/thinking and old structures/authority working together. Keep in mind Saturn always brings the restraints - but with a harmonious sextile, the restraints provide the focus/structure/tradition - they make the "new" longer lasting/make the new better.

Saturn will keep Mercury in Aries from being too impulsive - a good thing.

From the weekly HERE

"Now, it's Mercury's turn to finally bust a move as he swims out of Pisces and into Aries. BOOM. THIS MATTERS.

Remember she/he was part of January's Pluto/Saturn conjunction. She has been back and forth through virus-ruling Pisces for many weeks because of her retrograde (and remember Mercury is not only the messenger God but also the trickster God).

She has just squared the Galactic Center picking up a need to adjust her message.

So now in Aries - a cardinal sign demanding initiative/a fresh start - new information comes in. 

Our perspective shifts. 

A new spell is being woven with new words.  

As she moves into Aries and crosses the Aries point - something here is collectively/universally noticed.  

Our attention goes HERE.

New solutions. Fresh conversations. Words will be faster and more impulsively stated.

Assertive language.

I am thinking and hoping, because the astrology points in multiple ways (to me) as Mercury being an important driver of this pandemic (and the death anxiety) we will reach an important pivot point at the end of this week/beginning of next week when Mercury enters Aries."


xo all

photo by the talented Grinch7

Today's Astrology Forecast | Thursday, April 9, 2020 - stressful situations and then a kind of peace, staying present as the sleeping desire for life is powerfully re-awakened in us, this is just how it is

The Moon continues her journey through Scorpio today - we are nurtured through intimacy, truth, getting to the bottom of things, purging what is no longer needed. She has some tense aspects - a couple last night while we slept that could color the day (stir up our fears, obsessions, control struggles) and then a nice trine to dreamy Neptune late tonight.

Perhaps the kind of peaceful ending that comes when we realize the things we are stressing over are outside our control and we relax our grip from that disconnected steering wheel we've been clinging to for dear life.

Tomorrow's lunar aspects are smoother, more opportunistic. If something important can wait until then I would push it off.

Keep in mind where we are - the Moon is waning now.

We've waded into the river. Wait. Scratch that. We rushed into the river. We are fleeing something. And then the shocking cold water and mud at our feet has brought us to a complete and sudden STOP.

Forced to take shelter here, in a kind of in-between space. There is no going backward (maybe picture a snarling raptor on the shoreline or a disappearing island engulfed by the hot lava of a volcano), but every step forward just creates more mud. The shocking situation we find ourselves in is designed to wake us up. Stay present. There is no clear way forward (ie no way to move forward without muddying the water) because there is no clear way forward.

That's just how it is.

And instead of saying, "that's just how it is right now" see what it tastes like to say something even more expansive like "that's just how it is".

This is about living in uncertainly because when nothing is certain then anything is possible. This isn't just a bumper sticker.

Ask someone who has had a near-death experience about the euphoria that follows that; the desire for life that is stirred up. Then imagine for a moment what almost 8 billion people could create with that desire.

If we could talk to our great-great grandmother (and we can actually) we could ask her what it was like to wake every morning not knowing if her family would survive the day or how she became pregnant without going insane not knowing if the baby, let alone her own body, would survive the birth. We could ask our great-great grandfather (and I almost certainly don't need all these 'greats') what it was like to spend 100 hours a week working a field not knowing if the weather would even allow the crop to survive let alone thrive.

They would just look at us and shake their heads and say something like, "that's just how it is", they would wonder at our sanity for even asking the question.

"Life is uncertain", they would say. 

And then maybe, if we are lucky and I think we are (because there wouldn't be an "us" in the first place if we didn't have a lot of strength and a little sass in our gene pool) - they would wink.

xo all

photo by the talented RaphaelleM