Today's Astrology Forecast | Friday, May 8th, 2020 - practical action, confidence is healing, small decisions, multiple answers, daddy packs his bags

The Moon is in big-picture Sagittarius now (3:15AM EDT) and answering to a very slow Jupiter, ruler of the South Node now, very uncomfortable in Capricorn and preparing for his station next week. Venus is very slow and preparing to station, too, and so is SATURN. So, three planets will join Pluto and station retrograde starting on Sunday.

In the meantime, the Moon will sextile Saturn (1 degree at 6:26AM EDT) then move on to square Ceres (4 degrees) and trine Chiron (7 degrees). The sextile to sober Saturn keeps our "head in the clouds" Sag feet on the ground. Practical and optimistic energy. The need to not take anything too far, but at the same time the need to take it somewhere! The square to Ceres could bring up some tension/challenges later on with things "outside our control" or maybe some mothering/smothering issues. And then, finally, the confident Sag Moon will trine hurting/healing Chiron - we step up/we stand up - we feel better. Moon/Chiron can make us more sensitive, maybe overly reactive - something to keep in mind.

We are all kind of in this pressure cooker/cosmic science experiment anyway, right?

As Saturn stations retrograde on Sunday - and keep in mind all three planets that will retrograde next week are at the degree of their station already - what happens for us personally depends on our natal chart and our relationship with Saturn. If we have planets/points between 22 degrees Capricorn and 1 degree Aquarius (and maybe we can add a couple degrees on either side of this) we will feel his retrograde strongest. This can also apply to planets/points in the other fixed to cardinal signs as he squares and opposes them. If we were born with Saturn retrograde, and so the need to face up to certain responsibilities in this lifetime we have previously avoided, we will feel his retrogrades more intensely, too.

For everyone else and for all of us collectively Saturn's station will either:

1. ease restrictions/limits/traditions (daddy on vacation) 

or 2. create delays/pull back support (again, daddy's on vacation). It just depends on which kind of "daddy" we have via our natal chart! 

Saturn retrogrades give us a second chance to get it right. 
  
He will station direct at the end of September and it's report card time.

In the meantime, watch for over-confidence/delusion that creates avoidance. 

We want to use that Saturn sextile today to take practical action. 

Keep in mind always now the North Node in Gemini - keep your mind open, our stories/the facts are changing, there will be MANY small answers not one big answer, small will be bigger than big.

Small decisions are easier (and faster) to make anyway, and we have to start where we are, which is obvious because the concrete feels pretty thick. So, focus.

I keep thinking about that scene in the 80's Chevy Chase film "Funny Farm" where the moving guys are asking the locals for directions and the local guy, sitting on his porch and chewing on a piece of barley (as I remember it) says "well, I wouldn't start from here", and the moving guy says "well, supposen' you had to". That's where we stand with something. That's the thing that needs to move. It doesn't need to move from New York to Cleveland, but maybe it does need to get over the Brooklyn Bridge. Which might also be what someone is trying to sell you now, so stay frosty/alert.

We have less than 72 hours before the dominoes start to tumble backward - what do you want to do with these hours?

We are going to get much more busy. The busy is coming. Even if we don't get very far with all the retrogrades, the busy won't be stopped. But, maybe stop looking for a way out because we are all going further in.


xo all 

photo by the talented Njurur

Full Moon in Scorpio | May 7th, 2020 - what comes to light/what ends, reclaiming our commitment to life, money on everyone's mind, going with the flow, avoiding distractions, promises and problems that might not ever actually happen

We wake on Wednesday, May 6th with the Moon in Scorpio now. We are nurtured through intimacy, the ways we merge what we have/earn with other people, truth, getting to the bottom of things, research, purging the stuff that is 'dead' to us.

We've left the Venusian lunar energies of balanced Libra and are now (on some level) seeking emotional INTENSITY.

The Moon is quickly challenged by a square to Saturn in Aquarius (6:09AM EDT) - maybe we are over-complicating things by looking too far ahead this morning. Groups could be testy/demanding. Lunar squares to Saturn can feel depressing/lonely. The Moon in Scorpio wants to go deep/be intimate and Aquarius steps back/wants his space/won't go there.

The Moon in Scorpio likes to keep her secrets, but she is on a collision course with unpredictable Uranus (this afternoon) and then (tomorrow) with that bright Sun in Taurus aligned with Mercury - so things aren't very likely to stay hidden. 

By 2:31PM (Wednesday EDT) she has moved into her opposition with disruptive Uranus. After the tension of that restrictive square this morning - here's where something can come uncorked. Or maybe whatever it is we have been smothering/obsessing over moves away from us!

Whatever this is, a Scorpio Moon needs to feel in control and here is something unexpected.

If Uranus doesn't get us to some kind of 'disclosure' - breakthrough, breakdown, break-up - on Wednesday, there is always the Full Moon on Thursday to bring something into the light.

(keep in mind our information planet Mercury is in slow and steady Taurus, so this could be a process, but we'll get there!)

On Thursday, May 7, 2020 at 6:45AM EDT - the Scorpio Moon will oppose the Taurus Sun at 17 degrees giving us this month's FULL MOON.

The Full Moon in Scorpio is ruled by Pluto (modern ruler) and Mars (ancient ruler). Pluto is retrograde in Capricorn and Mars is reaching the end of Aquarius, widely squaring the Moon and Sun.

Full Moons bring things to light and to a culmination/peak. They are times of opposition.

Scorpio, in the northern hemisphere, rules late autumn. The wind is blowing the leaves from the trees, the landscape is becoming barren, death is expected - there is a sense of being cut off, a sense we are on our own.

Taurus, in the northern hemisphere, rules late spring. The world is fertile. Taurus energy seeks the light/the touch of others.

Both signs are fixed and want what they want

(one energy isn't "good" and the other "bad" - neither could exist without the other - we could think of this as two sides of the same coin).

So, we have this polarity - Scorpio beckoning us "come over to the dark side" and not only because there are cookies (although there might be and I am pretty sure they will be homemade this year because everyone seems to be baking now or is that just all of us in stressed-out New Jersey clearing the shelves of flour and baking supplies), but because there is also buried treasure.

Scorpio energy embraces complication. There is no fear of what we might find when we go digging around in the dark because Scorpio knows the negative thought or feeling isn't bad, it's just an aspect of personality we have sacrificed to help us survive and "fit in"

(it is up to us to be HUMBLE enough, and astrology is helpful here, to find the context for such thoughts and feelings and give them credibility by knowing they are there for some GOOD reason).

Taurus is equally adamant that we should "stay where we are - it's safe, it's comfortable, it's working out just fine" and besides, here's the pantry with all that hoarded flour. Taurus energy embraces peace and comfort.

With Scorpio we have the shadow of control and jealousy and taking on too much that can fuel greed. With Taurus, the shadow of stubborn resistance to change and resistance to anything that is complicated - an attachment to the familiar that can also fuel greed.

There are no right or wrong answers. Without any journeying through Scorpio, Taurus "peace and comfort" is just pouring pink paint over our problems and calling them cotton candy. And without any journeying through Taurus, well, Scorpio's dark side, would just be, well, instead of fertile earth ... just too freaking terrifying.

With Scorpio we are either living our life or we are getting ready to die - and now that we all have one more thing that is looking to kill us - we need to make a commitment to being here if we really want to be here!

Let's unpack the chart!

The Moon is doing that "cheese stands alone thing" she did back in January, at the last Eclipse (still in play), but instead of standing in home-centered "mama-bear" Cancer, she is in the murky waters of Scorpio now. Deep in the underworld with grim-reaper Pluto. We know now something about how this January stuff will play out in the 3D world. Not everything. But we know now what we didn't know then.

Pluto don't play.

(and something to keep in mind with Scorpio Full Moons and the endings they sometimes bring - they are permanent resets, with distinct 'before and after' qualities and often involve trajectories we have resisted)

The Moon is opposing the Taurus Sun. The Sun is conjunct Mercury and this aspect is waning/unwinding. So, a couple days before the Full Moon, Mercury met the Sun - their first meeting since that MAJOR "time runs out" PALAVER back in January.

So, maybe a couple days ago some information came to light. Maybe something about our finances or shared resources. Maybe there was an important conversation or something culminated/finalized. An announcement. A result.

So now, Mercury has moved past the Sun. He carries this information with him. Maybe the light of the intimate Scorpio Full Moon intensifies the impact of the message he is carrying or maybe what was important just a couple days ago is much less important now.

He will be out of Taurus and into his home sign of Gemini on Monday, so the flow of information will speed up. A push for info/commerce/the flow of goods/to get things moving. But he/she will be squaring that Mars in Aquarius (the people/the science) slowing things down - PLUS THREE PLANETS STATION RETROGRADE NEXT WEEK.

So we will all be going backward!

The Moon and Sun are sextiling Neptune (strong in Pisces) connecting us to our past, our ancestors, spiritual wisdom, art, music, our imaginations, healing. THIS MATTERS. The Moon will sextile Neptune within a couple hours, the Sun within a couple days.

And, now that I think about it, the Sun will get to this sextile around the same time Mercury will trine Jupiter (Sunday, May 10th) and that's the day Saturn stations retrograde!

Neptune may be tricking Venus about what we think we want/need or making something seem better than it actually is this month, but here he is showing the Sun the real deal opportunity in Taurus - something practical, maybe something we already have.

One thing to keep in mind with Neptune is he can distract us from all sorts of important things. Our Pisces house always holds things we don't always want to, and sometimes just can't, see clearly.

But certainly watch for something to come to light this week that gives us an opening - a light at the end of the tunnel.

We've got the Full Moon ruler Pluto recently stationed retrograde in Capricorn, moving back toward the Saturn/Pluto conjunction point, away from Jupiter. Pluto retrogrades are times to do some deep inner work. Fear that is ripe for release will come up to be looked up/worked through/maybe just survived. Fear can arise through uncomfortable situations, but we can see it for what it is now. There is no confusion that we are simply safe at home. We are in Pluto's lair, playing Pluto's game, "hey I know you".

One thing that is probably going to be happening around this Full Moon is big financial issues are going to be out in the open. Also some of the virus death numbers might ratchet up, maybe from little pockets that were ignored/misinterpreted. What comes out at a Scorpio Full Moon will be 'truth', but she'll hold some of her secrets and everything won't come out.

There is another side/potential pitfall to the 'shelter at home' thing that we won't be able to ignore any longer. Our capitalistic system is being starved. This will play out both personally and collectively. More choice points - the North Node is in Gemini now. We will need information, communications, small steps not giant leaps. Doing things quickly can work, yes, but in small steps that are thought out and backed by the facts we know/the information available.

Scorpio's co-ruler (modern ruler) Mars is widely squaring the Moon/Sun and also trining Venus. That trine with Venus is deceptive because we know she is going to turn around next week and it won't be until September 28th when Venus is in Leo and Mars is in Aries that they will finally trine each other. So, this is kind of something building that never happens. Mars square to the Sun is also not going to happen in this cycle - they won't square until June 6th from Pisces and Gemini.

Maybe some of what this Full Moon promises - both good and bad - will not actually be delivered. And there are secrets here and things we just can't yet know.

At the same time Vesta is exactly conjunct Hygei. This is showing our continued focus/commitment - for another lunar cycle - to specific health practices including hygiene. Vesta is saying - yes, this still matters. Our health is sacred. Our health is our hearth. Put your attention HERE. Keep this fire burning.

Venus is just past her meeting with Vesta on April 14th when our focus, maybe almost like an obsession, fell on SOMETHING we wanted. Maybe we got it. Maybe we resisted. Whatever this is we will be revisiting this around the middle of May. And keep in mind Venus's square to Neptune - something we think we want or thought we wanted/needed is dissolving. 

There is alot here we will be working through until the New Moon in Gemini in a couple weeks.

In the meantime, the Moon's sextile to Neptune makes this a wonderful Moon and highly effective Moon for prayer, meditation, music, poetry, Plutonian total transformation courtesy of GOING WITH THE FLOW.

Be sure to get out and walk in it if you can! This is an especially excellent Full Moon to purge what is no longer needed. The lunar cycle is like our breath cycle and the Full Moon is the point where our lungs are sated - we have inhaled and are now ready to exhale. So, what do we need to release?


xo all

Today's Astrology Forecast | Tuesday, May 5, 2020 - smooth sailing then the evening gets more stressful, communicate, socialize, our path/the story changes, the facts and the children will lead us

The Moon is in social Libra now - nurtured through other people, beauty, peace, bringing things into balance.

She (as us) has a lovely trine (brakes off) to ruler Venus in Gemini - so in mutual reception with Mercury in Taurus. Good for improved communication/connecting with other people. Tonight she runs into - via a tense square - a retrograde Pluto at 7:04PM EDT. Power struggles/intense situations and the Moon in Libra likes things smooth and easy. She will quickly trine Mars though (in Aquarius), so we should be able to work through whatever this is by using a cool head and keeping one detached eye on the future.

This is also the day via Libra/Taurus we get this month's Waxing Inconjunct between the Moon and the Sun showing a need to balance both our current resources, our money, our values, our wants with what is wanted/needed within our relationships/by other people. Inconjuncts are rocks and hard places, so require adjustment, some give and take, and still leave us unsettled because things cannot be fully reconciled. As part of this month's lunar cycle and with a Full Moon (in Scorpio so answering to powerful Pluto) in a just a couple days - it could be a good idea to deal with this now, rather than stuff it as a Libra Moon is prone to do with anything distasteful - and maybe tonight's squares force our hand with this - we will get a much better culminating result as the Moon reaches her fullness in Scorpio, if we do (dealing with the ways we merge ours with theirs, etc). 

The big news today, but this is longer term, so more impactful over time - the Nodes of the Moon move from Cancer into Gemini and Capricorn to Sagittarius. We still have an eclipse on the Cancer/Capricorn polarity and Mercury is going to make a long retrograde through Cancer - June/July and Mars will square Cancer/Capricorn in the fall, so we are still dealing with this polarity, but it is no longer our guideposts.

The past, where we are now, represented by Sagittarius now - our entrenched beliefs, may become even more entrenched until it becomes obvious they are the elephant in the room blocking the door. Sag themes - travel, higher education, weddings, politics, legal issues, the media, publishing, foreigners, everything outside our comfort zone, exploration, our beliefs and higher thinking and, of course, the theme of our natal Sag house - will be subject to the disintegration of whatever is no longer working.

The future, our best path forward is represented by Gemini now - our mind, information, communication, facts, asking a question, questioning ourselves, making a new choice, telling a fresh story, looking at fresh perspectives and new ideas, trying new things, taking a class, doing something within our local neighborhood, calling our sister (or brother or cousin), starting that book, starting that business, making something smaller, travel/shop/sell more locally.

We will talk about this alot over the next couple years. We change our beliefs (and this is fate, so no stopping this train!), we change our life.

Instead of running on hope/what we believe we will be running on information. Start small. In Gemini we absorb information - this will be a great transit for learning. The student will be a more important role for us than the teacher. What is best for the kids, more important than what is best for older people - you can see how this is going to flip everything as we move through this. Trust this. Everything is unfolding just as it should be.

Today's Moon will go void at 10:31PM EDT off a square to Jupiter diving into Scorpio while we sleep preparing for the big Full Moon - we will talk about that in the next post.

xo all

photo by the talented yokhicolmadi

Astrology Forecast for creatives | Week of May 4th - May 10th, 2020 - major pivot points, our path forward shifts, clarity, culminations, a focus on finances, being re-wired for a new world, time is on our side

This is a HUGE week and so is next week - after that the energy should slow down for a couple weeks.

This isn't the time for big decisions if we can help it, (because so much is in flux this week and next), but it is the time to really think about the ways we make decisions.

Do we move toward what we want or do we move away from what we don't want with no clear idea of where we are headed? As simple as this sounds - getting real about this, is going to make all the difference in the way things play out for us over the next 18 months!

SUNDAY - Venus squares Neptune
MONDAY - Mercury conjuncts the Sun
TUESDAY - Nodes change signs- North Node into GEMINI, South Node into Sagittarius
THURSDAY - Full Moon in Scorpio (17 degrees)
FRIDAY - trigger date for next month's ECLIPSE
SATURDAY - Mercury trines Pluto
SUNDAY - Mercury trines Jupiter

SUNDAY - Venus, in Gemini (for a long back and forth), squares Neptune, in Pisces, the first of THREE squares. There are many ways for this to play out, but this is basically tension/the need to adjust between what we want/or the choices that are available right now vs the 'ideal". Something unrealistic could feel very realistic, so proceed cautiously. This will be in play all month and then pick back up at the end of July.

We talked about this last week HERE and then again HERE.

MONDAY - Mercury in Taurus, meets the Sun at 14 degrees.

This is amplified by being in play at this week's Full Moon later in the week. This is the superior conjunction in their cycle and brings a culmination - CLARITY, a clear result/ending or practical/grounded news or information. Personally this will be about/come through our Taurus house theme, collectively this will be about our values, resources, money and security. We also have Mars quintile (which I don't talk about much, but it could be useful here to know about it) Uranus tonight, so something unexpected coming in.

TUESDAY - This is HUGE and will be in play for the next 18 months.

The North Node (our collective way forward) moves into Gemini and our South Node (where we are now, what we have outgrown) moves into Sagittarius.

Alot of what happens to us collectively (and personally) here is FATED for the next year and a half.

We talked about this HERE and I am going to return to that post and update it for the pandemic.

This is an eighteen month process - away from our homes (Cancer) and out into our communities (Gemini), away from a focus on our security/vulnerabilities toward a focus on different facts/information/choices.

We become more dualistic as, collectively and personally, we move in TWO very different directions!

When we can see both sides of a situation - that's when we will be able to get things moving. When we just dig in our heels and know we are right and the other side is wrong we will just get more and more stuck in the mud, spinning our wheels.

With the South Node in Sag - we are releasing (through often complicated and sometimes painful situations) outdated beliefs, the things we think we "know for sure", issues around foreign situations, travel, education, religion, politics. Very old and very deep stories about what we BELIEVE (and our beliefs truly form who we are) are going to be put to bed over the next eighteen months.

We'll explore more about this in a bigger post, and, of course as we move through it. And, again, don't miss checking out the Nodes post HERE.

We can see how life is synchronistically setting us up for this - both collectively and in our personal lives already.

(it's been interesting how the end of the North Node in Leo brought us here in the U.S. into the Trump Presidency - the ultimate Leo/king/royalty storyline and the end of the North Node in Cancer brought so many people home and all of us face to face with greater insecurity/our vulnerabilities - the Universe don't play around folks!)

THURSDAY - This is the big Scorpio Full Moon (17 degrees), ruled by a retrograde Pluto and with the Moon making nice with Neptune (our dreams!) and the Sun conjunct Mercury. This is about truth and reality. Intimacies. Merged resources. Pretending everything can just go back to the way it was or that everything is OK isn't going to work.

The stuff underneath, dark as it might be, must be acknowledged, but, getting lost in some murky media-fueled horror show of "certainty" - whether that be death or economic depression - rather than the neutral unknown TRUTH can do us even more damage!

And we'll talk about this in a big FULL MOON post later in the week.

On FRIDAY, we reach the trigger date for next month's Full Moon Lunar Eclipse in Sagittarius. I find events sometimes occur exactly one month before or after the eclipse itself. So, we could be reaching a BIG culmination related to our Sag natal house theme or the collective themes of - higher education, our beliefs, travel, media, religion, politics, weddings, foreign situations.

SATURDAY - Mercury trines Pluto - so Mercury met the Sun on Monday and started (as us through information, news, communications, a sibling situation, local community, transportation, internet) a new chapter (as one ends, one always begins) and now he/she trines (brakes off) a retrograde Pluto -

deepening the information/more truth now maybe and certainly a greater intensity. We could have a powerful influence via our words/information or others could be making one on us, so think about what you are feeding your brain now.

Good for research/getting to the bottom of things and dealing with powerful people and situations. this isn't something we have to force, it will just naturally happen.

SUNDAY - Now, after Mercury unwinds a little bit from Pluto she/he moves into a trine (again, brakes off) with Jupiter (in Capricorn). Good news. Expansion. Confidence. With Mercury in Taurus - this is good for money-making/resource building information/communication/ideas to come in. Again, this won't be something we have to force, it will just naturally happen.

Just keep in mind, Mercury is in Taurus, so answering to Venus, and we know she is squaring illusive Neptune. Don't bet the farm or run off to Vegas (is Vegas even open?) just yet. Keep one eye on your heart and the other on your wallet.

Back with some dailies and the Full Moon in Scorpio post!

Next week Venus, Saturn and Pluto will all turn backward giving us all a chance to make better decisions!


xo all

photo by the talented fairyladyphotography