Weekly Astrology Forecast | Week of April 20, 2020 - signs, roadblocks, hidden information comes to light, breakthroughs, resource issues, journey to pantisocracy (yes, that's a word), a New Moon and Pluto stations retrograde

This is another BIG week with multiple pivot points, challenges and opportunities. The beginning, the middle and the end of the week all have major aspects!

We'll flesh this all out with some dailies when we factor in the Moon, but here is most of what we are looking at:

SUNDAY - Sun enters Taurus
MONDAY - Sun sextiles the North Node
TUESDAY - Sun squares Saturn
WEDNESDAY - New Moon in Taurus (3 degrees)
THURSDAY - Ceres enters Pisces
SATURDAY - Mercury squares Pluto, Mercury conjuncts Eris, Pluto stations retrograde
SUNDAY - Mercury squares Jupiter, Sun conjuncts Uranus

Heads up that Mercury is doing this week, what Mars is going to be doing AUGUST THROUGH DECEMBER up to three times (Mercury just does this once!) - see that post HERE,

so we will get a heads-up this week via Mercurian information/communication, about what that AUGUST THROUGH DECEMBER Mars transit will likely be about for us personally and collectively.

We want/need to be paying attention!!

Keep in mind the days listed here are when these energies are most exact (EDT), but we could be dealing with them days before or after as they build and unwind themselves.

SUNDAY - We start burning Taurus fuel as the Sun moves into the sign of Mother Earth.

Taurus is the nuts and bolts of life. She rules our second house of everything important money can buy and everything important money can't. She rules food and nourishment. She rules the sensual touch that feels like love. She rules our resources - our money, the planet. She rules our self-esteem and values.

Taurus is the space in your natal chart that naturally encloses what we are here to nurture, preserve and grow. It may be a space we have a bit less passion and ambition because we most naturally feel the need to sustain what takes root here. A bird in the hand thing usually applies to the theme of whatever space Taurus occupies in our natal chart.

Taurus energy is cautious because the thing we are holding/carrying here is precious.

(it can also become the fear-based space where good things go to die - and then we carry around a bunch of dead stuff like a crate of rotted vegetables and wonder why we are so tired all the time, and smell like brussel sprouts - although not so much these days with chaotic Uranus in the extra bedroom)

MONDAY - The Sun (in Taurus now, but you know that already) sextiles the North Node in Cancer.  

This is a spotlight on the future. 

Pay attention to what comes to your attention now. A specific situation could beckon to us - "Here I am. I am your purpose." If you have a planet or point on or near 1 degree Cancer or 1 degree Taurus you will feel this energy strongest. Sextiles are not done deals though - some action on our part will be required.

TUESDAY - The Sun squares Saturn (in Aquarius). For some people this could color the beginning of the week with stress/tension/depression.

Limits/standstills. External pressure. Everything just feels like hard work.

Saturn in Aquarius is bringing us disruptive restrictions, but the Sun in Taurus likes things smooth and easy.

So, maybe a light shines on why we are being blocked and what obligations remain. Maybe a light shines on the way our fears have governed us into thinking and acting as we do.

The Sun's square to Saturn speaks of the need for patience/responsibility, but isn't all bad. Keep in mind Saturnian squares can build real, solid things over time if we make the effort to work with them - to give both the Sun (in solid, practical Earth here) and Saturn (in future focused, liberating air) their due. The kind of things that won't be knocked away easily are being built from the ground up.

The kind of things that can't easily be taken away from us.

WEDNESDAY - The Taurus Moon meets the Taurus Sun at 3 degrees giving us this month's New Moon - conjunct Uranus and squaring Saturn, it's a powerhouse - post to follow!
 
THURSDAY - Ceres (nurturing, loss, mothering, food, seasons of life issues, control issues) moves into Pisces today. Ceres themes become more emotional. Endings/losses within these themes maybe become more likely as Ceres moves into the final sign, but they can also be more gentle and gradual.

Ceres is going to station retrograde in Pisces, so other than a few weeks (end of September to beginning of November) that she retrogrades back into Aquarius, she will be in Pisces through the rest of the year. Since Pisces is the last sign, and can feel like a kind of winter and Ceres is about the seasons and our food - this is another indication issues like food shortages could continue and might get bigger this year.

SATURDAY/SUNDAY - Mercury meets Eris and squares Pluto (then Jupiter) as Pluto stations retrograde plus the Sun meets Uranus.

This is uber POWERFUL and impacting us for a couple days before and after. Let's unpack it.

Mercury meeting Eris (in Aries!) is likely to bring angry words. Lots of voices who haven't been heard are getting a voice this year. And they are pissed off. Any words we've kept a lid on will be boiling up.

The square to Pluto brings intensity - the feeling of life or death to situations - power struggles, manipulations, compulsions, suspicions. Challenges with Plutonian issues - sex, life/death, reproduction, financial issues, third party situations, power plays, the stuff that gets done behind closed doors and in the dark. We could be called to face our fears/deal with the stuff we don't want to deal with. Dark secrets could be spilled. Maybe something comes to light that was buried.

Pluto is standing still at retrograde and let's just say he is very .. dangerous. I'd say no dark alleys for any of us, but we know that already. If you are quarantined I will add - no dark hallways. Like seriously. Turn the light on.

As Mercury squares Pluto/Jupiter we (or someone else) could be speaking out with confidence and power, but with Pluto's retrograde there could be some kind of immediate pull back or about face. The pressure could also hit hard and then quickly ease off.

At the same time the Sun meets Uranus (in Taurus). Taurus is about our food supply, too, so this again could be bigger issues there coming to light. Taurus also rules our money and resources. The Sun makes something clear/brings this into the spotlight. Changes to our income/to what we perceive as valuable/to our self-esteem are possible.

So are personal/collective BREAKTHROUGHS.

Collectively this could put a spotlight on medical/scientific/future leaning breakthroughs! A brilliant spark is lit. 

Pluto stations retrograde. 

Pluto's retrogrades are times to do some deep inner work. Fear that is ripe for release will come up to be looked at/felt. Fear can arise through uncomfortable situations, but we can see it for what it is, ask ourselves if it serves us any longer and decide what to do with it.

Really deep insights are possible while Pluto is retrograde and he is particularly powerful when he stations. 

Pushing against these seemingly never ending blockages, trying to over-control stuff now and swim upstream (you don't look like a salmon to me) are going to be hard going. Outworn controls, rules and power systems get re-looked at. The big-money bailouts will almost certainly be back in the news and get some re-visions.

After this weekend, the feeling of life and death urgency should start to ease up - the Plutonian death cycle becomes an inside job as we go back over old control issues, financial maneuverings, power struggles, mergings and purgings.

This 'death postponed' period doesn't mean the virus is going to just disappear, this is just a retrograde, Pluto will be direct again in October.

I have to think though the planet of 'death' stationing retrograde during a pandemic means something and we have both Saturn and Jupiter stationing retrograde over the next couple weeks, so we shall see what happens.

There is just no way to know ...

Since the discovery of Pluto (and the nuclear age he ushered in) we have had the power to destroy ourselves and have been charged/gifted with the duty of becoming a world incapable of using that power. We rise or we fall. Whatever it takes. We are entering a new realm of what is real - powered by the karma of our collective death anxiety and a little fellow named corona. We do it alone AND we do it together at the same time.


xo all

With Mercury (thinking, communicating, information) going to be uber active this week, why not ponder the word "pandemic" itself and also Mercury's son "Pan" and any mythological significance to our current challenging chapter.

The word pandemic makes me think of panic and pandemonium, of course. But also pantries and panhandlers and pancakes. Pancakes, right?

And, of course, pantisocracy (who knew there was such a thing!) - society where all are equal and all rule

The difference between a pantisocracy and a democracy is the difference between - all equal and all rule vs rule by the people - which at first sounds like the same thing, but we know democracy really becomes "rule by the majority" and not even the majority, but by the majority's elected representatives, and we can see how this isn't really working out anymore no matter who we elect.

Imagine a pandemic leading to a pantisocracy? I can!

The word pandemic itself comes (according to Websters) from the ancient Greek pandemos, which means pertaining to all people.

And Greek leads us to the mythological God 'Pan' and of course 'Pandora' and her opened box of all sorts of ills.

Let's start with Pan.

Pan, was the son of Mercury (Hermes to the Greeks) and, possibly Penelope (?), but this part is a bit fuzzy. He was a strong and fast half-man, half-goat God and lived in the wild, mountainous land of Arcadia.

(Cappy goat)

Pan spent his days wandering the forest, playing his pipes, chasing nymphs and napping. Although usually sort of an amiable fellow, to wake Pan from his napping, was known by the people of the area, to be not such a good idea.

He would let out an angry and blood-curdling scream that left anyone within earshot with an overwhelming sensation of fear and anxiety. PANIC. In this way he protected his forests and his own forty winks.

(protector of the natural world)

It is important to note their fear of Pan wasn't because of anything Pan did after that soul-shattering scream - he didn't proceed to chop off their heads or call up tree roots to drag them down to Pluto - this was about the feelings he stirred in them - he SCARED THE HELL OUT OF THEM.

Sometimes he even SCARED THEM TO DEATH.

(death anxiety, the only thing to fear is fear itself)

Another interesting thing about Pan is his connection to Midas.

Midas was the king who foolishly, after saving Silenus and granted one wish by Dionysus, asked for the power to turn anything he touched into gold. This worked out well for Midas for about a New York minute, until he tried to eat and drink, and then foolishly touched his own daughter turning her into gold, too

(makes me think of Trump, of course, but Midas is uber activated in all of us now as our bodies fill with anxiety-filled survival hormones and we realize the 'gold' we thought would keep us safe is looking more and more like fool's gold in the harsh light of 2020).

When King Midas begs him to be released from this death dealing golden touch, Dionysus (the striker of hard, but compassionate deals) agrees, but only if he washes in the source of the river Pactolus, knowing for Midas this humble pilgrimage alone and unaided is what’s really required.

(we've had this whole personal and collective 'humbling' theme going on with the South Node in Capricorn)

After some time in the forest, we assume spent embracing solo survival methods, Midas meets Pan who befriends him and helps reconnect the King to his wild, earthy roots.

(Cancer North Node, strength through vulnerability, coming home to ourselves)

We could stop here, and maybe we should, because there already feels some connection to our current circumstances, but since the Pan/Midas story has another chapter (although I'm not quite sure what to make of it just yet) - here it is.

Some years later, Pan who by now has mastered the pipes he invented from reeds, foolishly challenges Sun God Apollo to a musical contest in which one of the judges is King Midas. The other judges all declare Apollo the winner, but Midas votes for Pan (maybe out of gratitude for their days in the wild, maybe because he truly loved Pan's music more, who knows), angering Apollo who gives the king embarrassing "ass's ears" to improve his hearing.

In some tellings, Midas calls out to Pan for help, and Pan turns away.

(?)

And guess who was conjunct the North Node in Cancer (our way forward) back in January when the WHO was reporting a new virus and China was reporting their first death from that virus - a retrograde asteroid Pan!

The next time Pan meets the North Node will be on May 27, 2021 in Gemini ....

We'll work this out some more in another post and see what we can glean from Pandora ...


xo all

photo by the amazing oprisco

The Astrology of 2020 | part V - Mars comes home ... with a mission

Since Mars is going to retrograde in his home sign of Aries this year for a long transit during which time he will square the Cappy planets he mega-impacted in March, sending our normal lives hurtling into the stratosphere (and yes, this stratosphere could look something like the inside of a 100 year old center hall colonial with a leaky roof) - it seems like a good idea - knowing what we know now about what is unfolding this year - to take an early look at that.

So here we go - on June 27, 2020, Mars will move into his home sign of Aries for the first time in two years

(yes, even Mars is sent to his room this year).

Aries is the energy we incarnate through - it is us being born. Pushing our way into our very existence. Starting out all alone. It is our hero's journey. Our "I am".

In Aries, Mars is strong, willful, passionate, impulsive - and at his most Mars-y

(which is something like ballsy only more like BALLSY - I am talking bowling and not tennis here),

and because of his upcoming retrograde, he will be in Aries for THE REST OF THE YEAR.

Mars is the first planet outside our Earth's orbit. Our other inner/personal planets, Mercury and Venus are closer to the center, and, so, visually they travel with the Sun - they never get too far away - but Mars is a fellow who likes his independence.

He isn't constrained by the Sun in the same way Mercury and Venus are. Ruler of brave and independent Aries he does what he wants.

In Roman mythology, Mars was the son of Juno and Jupiter (in Greek mythology he was the God Ares). We think of Mars as the God of War, because he is, but his ancient role - as a fertility God and protector of crops and animals (herds), might be something for us to keep in mind as we talk about his upcoming retrograde.

In our natal chart Mars rules our natal Aries house and is influenced/and influences the sign and house he calls home. Mars is about our will, our ambition, our action, our passion, our physical self, our selfishness, our rage. His house placement and rulership lets us know what battles we are going to face in this lifetime - the spaces where, if we are not assertive and active (without being self-centered, irritable, impulsive, angry assholes), we will find ourselves steamrolled or in continued stress until we take action/stand up for ourselves/have COURAGE.

The last time Mars went retrograde was in June 2018

(in Aquarius - he moved back and forth over the South Node back then - this was that big summer when something might have ended/never got off the ground/didn't quite work out).

He won't be going over the South Node this time, thank goodness - the South Node will have moved on into Sagittarius, but he will be squaring that Cappy pile-up. Ouch!

My post from June 2018 during his last retrograde is HERE and included these words:

"Life is a chessboard (and a box of chocolate, too, of course) and this year we are being pushed and drop-kicked toward the positions we are most needed for a successful collective outcome in 2020. This year is the bridge year - this is why it feels like there is no ground beneath our feet! And yes, I realize there are no bridges on a chessboard (and no drop-kicking) - I need some help with these metaphors and my brain is not cooperating. Physically, mentally and emotionally - we are moving toward where we, and our energy level, needs to be. It can be exhausting, especially when we are dealing with the worn foundational issues we have ignored/procrastinated and the spaces where we have become super-glued to anything."

A couple important things will happen during Mars' visit to his old stomping ground.

He is, as we already said, going to station retrograde - so he (as us) will cover some of this territory THREE TIMES. And a retrograde Mars, isn't his usual self.

Pushy, world-centered activity tends to bite us in the butt when Mars is retrograde (this might not be true for people born when Mars was retrograde - they could get some kind of butt-bite-protection during retros), so, it's not the time to start a fight, the person who starts the fight will surely lose (or be the big learner if we look at it that way - which is why we won't always be able to stop ourselves from launching that grenade!).

If instead we turn our focus inside and allow our actions to flow from the passion initiated from that this will be a much easier/smoother transit for us personally.

AND, since Aries squares Capricorn, he is going to square Jupiter, Pluto and Saturn (because Saturn's retrograde is going to pull him back into Capricorn at precisely the right/wrong time) THREE TIMES. Sorry to keep shouting. I blame the cold weather.

We are going to talk through all of this as we move through it, but know this, coupled with a strong Eclipse season where things can flip around on us, means summer is NOT business as usual.

So, we will get to a certain point with something and need to go backward. We will have to re-do something, get to do things we missed doing the first time around - maybe experience second chances with opportunities/people/situations we missed. With Mars ruling our passion - this could be about rekindling an old passion. Life will not be all hand-washing and Netflix, I can promise you that.

Aries rules men, so expect men (maybe especially young men) to be out of sorts this summer with Mars moving backward (appearing to from our position on Earth).

Some of us who never hesitate will be hesitating (or pulling the trigger too soon) and others who normally need a push will be out there pushing. And again, this happening during a very tumultuous time, with the South Node moved into Sag and many people likely wedded to very entrenched beliefs, well, Mars retrograde in Aries could stir up some TROUBLE.

Mars kicked the pandemic up a notch when he connected with the Cappy planets in March. He will square the Cappy planets in August, September/October and December. Tension. Frustration. Blockage. These will all be needed and necessary, but could be stressful. So, this is a heads up. What house does Aries rule in your natal chart? What is the theme of that house?

The squares will roll out something like this:

MARS SQUARE SATURN - September 29th (Mars retrograde, Saturn direct) - Saturn definitely has the upper hand. We keep our cool and live to fight another day or we lose. This is unyielding - a denial of aggression/assertion. There is a "no" here. Roadblocks/limits/traditions serve a purpose - sometimes we need to go around, crash over or plow through them and sometimes they keep us from falling off the cliff. On the other hand, Saturn can win the battle and lose the war if he overplays his hand.  

MARS SQUARE JUPITER - (in mythology this would be a son/father battle) August 4th (Mars direct, Jupiter retrograde), October 19th (Mars retrograde, Jupiter direct) - this is going to amplify the Mars/Saturn/Pluto stuff. We could overestimate/exaggerate our strength/power. Move too fast. Use too much force or maybe too little. Jupiter is going to amplify the August and October squares - but, keep in mind Jupiter's basic beneficial nature. He is protective. He gives us faith.

MARS SQUARE PLUTO - This time we get an extra hit. August 13th (Mars direct, Pluto retrograde), October 9th (Mars retrograde, Pluto direct) and December 23rd (both direct) - Mars is powerful in his home sign and Pluto is, well Pluto is Pluto. Expect intense competition and unbridled ambition. Manipulations. Obsessions. Jealousy. Physical power struggles. Excisions/surgical procedures. Our power could be challenged or we could be the one doing the calling out. If we are "waked" this is the time to think about why this situation is "triggering" us. If we are repressing anger/passion/strong urges - here's where the lid comes off. We could be mad (Mars) at the truth (Pluto). We could be battling (Mars) for power/control (Pluto). We don't want to be ruthless or under-handed, but we might have to stand up for ourselves.  Avoid unnecessary run ins with the boss/authority because THEY WILL WIN. If we are the boss/authority then avoid making other people feel threatened because WE WILL LOSE in the long run. And we are playing a long game here. Keep this in mind. Mars/Pluto is like a bully aspect, but it is also about having the courage to SURVIVE.

As that final square unwinds itself by January 2021, the ground will have been scorched and there will be no going back. Very deep issues have been challenged. Something, at least sort of put to bed.

The sheets will undoubtedly be in a sweaty pile though

(that whole rising from our death beds thing this year).

Now during all these squares Mars is going to be conjunct his sister Eris. She is our angry outsider energy, the terrorist energy, the whistle-blower, the loose cannon, but she is really about challenging us to adapt/transform - so we will have to see how she factors in during these transits.  Again this year the need to bring everyone to the table.

(Eris has a discovery story that amazingly matches her mythological personality. The astronomer who discovered her first wanted to name her Xena. When he learned that was a made up TV thing, he then wanted to name her Persephone (after Ceres daughter, but that name was taken by an asteroid), and so apparently determined to name what he thought would be the 10th planet after a strong female, he settled on Eris.

THEN instead of announcing her as our 10th planet, the astronomy community decided to just demote Pluto - demote PLUTO?! - and call Eris, Pluto and Ceres dwarf planets. If we think about the Eris myth - about her being the angry outsider treated unfairly and enacting her revenge - we can see how this series of events - her being the name third chosen, not being granted planetary status and finally pulling Pluto down with her - while pulling up Ceres - exactly describes her mythology!)

It's hard to say what this will mean with the virus, our financial situation, the political divisions, protests, etc, but it almost certainly means none of these problems are going to go down easy.

Most of us have very deep soul memories of abandonment, lack of roots, not being able to take care of ourselves, being an outsider, dying alone, power struggles with authority or through being the authority, terrifying endings, death anxiety.

There is a need now to confront these energies. This is all being triggered. We have postponed this confrontation for lifetimes and now face the impossibility of running away from this stuff. There is nowhere to run. Keep in mind the big picture - we are building a bold new world, the fear that keeps us riveted in place will not be allowed to be part of this new structure.

BIG moves (by authority, by us stepping into our responsibilities for ourselves and for the group as our karma with trauma plays itself out) are coming in this chapter.

The good news and there is ALOT - Mars moves into Aries and sextiles Saturn (while he is still in Aquarius), AND he sextiles Jupiter and Pluto in the preceding days (from Pisces/Capricorn), so they all start out with their groove on in mid to late June - in harmony. 

Obviously they have their differences later on, but starting out in an opportunistic position is good news. Also Mars will have multiple sextiles with the North Node in Gemini - choices, ideas - lots of options and opportunities.

Life is changing. The only way to work something into the collective experience is to squeeze it down into our personal lives. So, yes, we are - should we survive the pressure and I am guessing most of us will - the lemons turning into the lemonade. Cue the red solo cup.

Mars will station retrograde on September 9th at 28 degrees Aries. He will get all the way back to 15 degrees on November 15th.

So, 15-28 degrees of the cardinal signs - Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn - are Mars retrograde hot spots. People with planets in here will be feeling the heat of this the strongest.

Keep in mind Mars transits are FAST. This passionate/intense/maybe angry/maybe ambitious energy will interact with our natal planet for a couple days and then unwind BUT because of the retrograde this will happen THREE times so provide more of a lasting and substantial impact.

Although squares are kind of irresolvable - just due to their basic natures being so different - squares are problem solving aspects. They require evolution. They are uncomfortable because we are set up to crave what is familiar, but moving through the challenges/surviving the challenges/evolving - always makes us stronger.

The squares will weed out the weak responses we are collectively and personally enabling between those Aries and Capricorn energies.

We have to keep in mind we don't really want either side to actually win - one side left drawn and quartered actually hurts both sides. We need the residual stress/the restlessness. These energies always need some unfinished business.

Forewarned is forearmed. especially since we are talking about Mars.

That's one of the goodies we get from our mundane astrology musings.

So, for example, if you are a Scorpio rising just knowing Mars is going to spend an inordinate amount of time in your 6th house later in the year - house of health - would mean this is a good time, right now, to put extra energy into being healthy (and I guess this is a bad example because we are all doing that!). Also, since this is the house of work and our daily activities (and pets) - plan on giving Mars something to do here to keep him busy at the end of June and through the rest of the year. We can't plan for everything, and we wouldn't want to anyway, but we can learn to work with this stuff and go with the flow.

The squares will challenge all of us. Personally and collectively. Mars in Aries for such a long time means we will all be working with our initiative, our passion, our anger! Long, hot summer? A big YES.

I will add to this post as we move along and have a better view of what all this means!


xo all

next up part VI - Venus retrograde in Gemini - this one comes sooner than the Mars retro but with his squares I wanted to take a look at that first

photo by the amazing alltelleringet
 

Today's Astrology Forecast | Friday, April 17, 2020 - time to exhale, the courage to do something differently, good weekend mojo

Let's see if I know what day it is today .... month? season?

(and while our neighbors have gracefully covered their spring plantings with tarp and canvases to protect them from last night's freezing temps - of course, we, the people who own at least a dozen tarps, but couldn't find any, covered our entire yard with upside down trash cans in various sizes, colors and states of disrepair - why do we own so many trash cans I have asked myself for years, well now I know! Classy and practical. Seriously, though, spring please come back - wth!)

This weekend looks like much easier energy and we could use it!

The Moon goes void at 10:34AM EDT off a harmonic sextile to the Aries Sun. She will be void until 2:29PM EDT when she exits Aquarius, which has been kind of stressful the last couple days, hasn't it, what with Mars and Saturn hanging out there now. "Bye-bye boys". The Moon exhales and slides her tired feet into the dreamy waters of Pisces.

That waning sextile is Aries/Aquarius - so emboldens our independent spirit, harmonizes the new with the unique, encourages us to try something different. Sextiles require a little bit of action to make them work (unlike trines that just kind of glide things into place, but the efforting part actually makes them more opportunistic). With Aries courage may be a prerequisite. Of course, everything seems to require courage right now, doesn't it? The Sun is at the very end of Aries, we know how to do this.

We will channel our great-grandma Daisy and get on with it.

Keep in mind that Void Moon - not the time to start anything brand new or push anything out into the world we need "something to come of", although that sextile should make the void period even more productive than it usually is. We can get alot done. Time gets stretchy.

We do have Saturn inconjunct the North Node and Mercury opposing Juno. So there could be some stressful conversations or information within relationships/commitments/contracts and some responsibilities or limits interfering with our home/family/real estate/home business/family business/mothering situation.

Never completely clear weather ... not quite spring just yet. 

But the Moon into a fellow water sign and Mercury starting to make nice with Venus should more than make up for any upsets.

Do things that make you feel good.

If you need to get something done with a project/financial situation - get on top of that.


xo all


photo by the amazing BirdSophieBlack

Today's Astrology Forecast | Thursday, April 16, 2020 - more clarity, an overstuffed mailbox, arguing for understanding, needing to listen, needing to be heard

Rumor has it, it's Thursday.

The Moon, in Aquarius now (so we are nurtured through groups and causes/by being different/liberated/leaning into the future), met Mars at 1:41AM EDT. The Aries Sun has moved off his square to Jupiter and toward his trine with the Galactic Center (seat of creation/homing signal).

We are asked to listen/to think. To go deeper. The ice is thinning and skating on the surface of things is dangerous.

The North Node is preparing for her move into dualistic Gemini.

Everyone is going to have to choose

(and be responsible for the consequences of those choices).

We are no longer blinded by "busy-ness" and "business as usual" to the glaring reality of cause and effect (karma). 

The ways we have been distancing ourselves from each other for years, the masks we have been wearing - for weeks, yes, but also for lifetimes - forests (lungs of the planet) destroyed, the death anxiety and pain brought to our animals and into our food supply through factory farming, other people's children in cages (now our own children locked up), etc, etc - if reaping what we sow gets any clearer and comes any faster, I guess I could be expecting a bumper-crop of lemons in my mailbox any day now..

(note to self - buy some stamps, save the post office)

In the iChing, "arguing" follows waiting.

I studied (only briefly) the iChing before astrology and it took me a long time to get this one. I vacillated between impulsive moves I liked to call "intuitive" and sitting on the fence growing wrinkles and gray hair. But when you think about what breaks the "waiting" - it is always tension/frustration - in astrology this would be a square.

We argue for what we need/what we believe in. We can see the reality of this now in our governments and state houses and kitchens and bedrooms and mostly in our own heads. The only way out of the "waiting" is this kind of direction of inner momentum outward.

This isn't a winning vs losing thing. If we can't win and we probably can't - then what can we do?

The iChing teaches "arguing" is a time to be centered in vigilance, but NOT frozen into a combative  and defiant posture. Heart open. Alert to the potentials. Keeping in mind always we don't know what we don't know.

When you first begin to study your own astrology chart you start looking at the squares. The challenges. You say to yourself, "holy sh*t, I am a freakin' mess here." But, over time you see the squares for what they really are - the dissenting impulses that inspire you to action. Your back against the wall spaces that give you something to push away from.

Arguing is the beginning of the beginning. If there were a beginning, but there really isn't.

Choices are coming and, so the arguing begins and with Saturn in Aquarius and Jupiter in Capricorn, our choices are going to be limited and also limiting.

Keep in mind Aquarius has two rulers - one is Saturn himself, the other Uranus. Stability and chaos. But, keep in mind, too, that chaos (Uranus) was the father of stability (Saturn) and Saturn was the father who ate his own children. Everything isn't always how it seems. Have I said the North Node in Gemini is coming? On the one hand minds are going to be changing all over the place. And on the other we will get even more entrenched into the South Node Sagittarius position of thinking we know more than we do.

For now, maybe think about this "arguing" thing. What are we arguing for? Instead of digging ourselves into a position and defending it to the bitter end, we could argue for the sake of understanding the truth.

Don't forget we are all in this together. Even at times when it feels like we are all alone!  

Sometimes we need to rest and sometimes we 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, although I think the bottle I found in my fridge yesterday is from 2012.

(May 2012 is activated now, along with many other time-frames, but this is one that might ring a bell for you?)

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 - but the more we focus on what we don't want, the more "don't want" there is to focus on.

Spiritual thinking. Quantum physics. Common sense.

xo all

photo by the talented schude