Today's Astrology Forecast | Wednesday, July 29, 2020 - strutting our stuff, expanding our reach, recognizing an opportunity, seizing the day, adjusting to old rules and strategies

The Moon moved into optimistic Sagittarius at 3:25AM EDT - nourishing us through the big-picture, adventure, expansion, travel, education, religion, the media, publishing, politics - for the next couple days.

Her only aspect today this month's Waxing Trine (brakes off) to our powerful Leo Sun at 3:46PM EDT.

This speaks of our ability to confidently step into the spotlight, have faith that things will work out, recognize opportunity, have an adventure - live LARGE.

If you need to bring attention to yourself/to something you have created - here's the energy for that.

The only fly in the ointment (yes, always a fly, maybe the ointment wouldn't be the ointment without the little buggers) - is a square between Mars and a retrograde Pallas at 16 degrees (Aries/Cappy). We want to move ahead/do what we want to do, but maybe there are certain old restrictions/rules/codes of conduct/thinking about how things should be done that we need to adjust to. 

If we have been in the lalaland of Venus/Neptune which can make us feel kind of numb - this aspect, as annoying/stressful as it might be because it brings tension/frustration - can get our ass moving to push through re-vised plans/strategies with re-newed enthusiasm, passion and initiative.


ENJOY THIS DAY!


xo all

photo by the talented Art-de-Viant

Today's Astrology Forecast | Tuesday, July 28, 2020 - decisions, commitments, getting stuff done, what we have been avoiding, fated choice points, moving forward

Our deep and probing Scorpio Moon makes all smooth aspects today -

she trines Mercury at 5:04AM EDT, sextiles a retrograde Jupiter at 11:07AM EDT, trines a retrograde Neptune at 11:17AM EDT, sextiles a retrograde Pluto at 4:05PM EDT and finally goes void off a sextile to a retrograde Saturn at 12:01AM EDT (our Sag Moon, tomorrow will make good aspects, too!).

The end of the week will get more challenging, so take advantage of these energies while you can. Good for communication, making progress with old projects. Dealing with old emotional issues. Scorpio brings focus/intensity. Good for work/goals. Being productive. Getting things done.

Venus - our money, our relationships, our  values and self-esteem - comes out of her retrograde shadow (starts walking new degrees at the end of Gemini) and forms the focal point of a Yod (Finger of God) with the Moon and Jupiter/Pluto.

Fated energies are woken up around love, money, our values, our resources - choices, decisions, forks in the road.

What have we learned the last few weeks with all this back and forth of Venus in Gemini ABOUT WHAT WE REALLY WANT/VALUE?

Once we make a decision/once we commit - life can gather our muses/our support system behind us - they rub their hands together, "Oh boy, now we've got a project!". But while we are all wishy-washy, doing some cray-cray yoga position trying to keep every door open, they can do little besides stand around, hands on hip, amused by our predicaments.

The Scorpio Moon is bringing the intensity - the feeling like it's now or never or maybe an actual dead-line. Jupiter/Pluto are bringing us back to an old opportunity/project/goal, maybe something we left dangling - Venus brings the NEW, in Gemini, maybe something with a Gemini theme - communication, words, ideas, writing, teaching, learning, something connected to our local community, to education, to transportation. Lighten things up. Think local. Think flexible.

What house does Gemini rule in your natal chart? What is the theme of that house?

If we are avoiding any "facts", because mostly our problems are self-created through avoidance right now, stuff could be nipping at our heels (whether these are puppy nips or alligator bites depends on just how much we have crammed under the bed and is clawing its way out). If we have been covering up any "facts" they could come out now. 

After today, Venus will start working through her inconjuncts (rock meet hard place, dealing with reality) with the Cappy planets as she makes her way to her conjunction with the North Node (our best collective way forward) on August 5th - destiny is calling folks.

So, it's not really like we decide and that's it - no, because everything isn't up to us and we have all these inconjuncts before we get to the North Node - but, we all know by now everything isn't up to us - but in some ways, yes, we decide and that's it.

The doors ahead may only still be barely open. But our decision closes other doors/tosses some of that sh*t behind the sofa into the rubbish bin/makes space for what we need/want to find us. Maybe creates the breeze that blows the doors we have left, open a bit more.

And, we might want to get something figured out before Mars starts squaring the Cappy planets in mid-August!

Working on a BIG Mars blog post because that Aries/Cappy square is going to explode,

but in the meantime if this "decision-time" thing isn't ringing any bells for you - think about what you have learned over the last few weeks about what you value most. About your close relationships - especially partnerships. About your money/resources. About your self-esteem. About your Gemini house theme? What's dangling? What can bite you in the ass later if you don't take some action now/make some decisions/check under the bed?

Keep in mind, our ability today to use that Scorpio Moon for focus/depth - because in general focus can be challenging these days - choose to look at what is working/growing and not what is falling apart! 

Turn off the news/the distractions/the chatter. 

The gold is right in front of us (with its roots in the past, so what did we miss?) and we will see it as soon as we take our eyes away from what we think we are losing.

xo all

photo by the talented Tanja Moss

Weekly Astrology Forecast for Creatives | July 27, 2020 - August 2, 2020 - finding the solid ground, bursting bubbles, challenges and opportunities, covering fresh territory, a long story kicks off, changes and shake-ups

Here' s a look at the aspects in the week ahead (minus the Moons, other than Monday):

MONDAY - Jupiter sextiles Neptune, Venus squares Neptune and inconjuncts Jupiter, Mercury squares Mars, Quarter Moon - Scorpio/Leo, Mercury opposite Pallas (WTH!)
THURSDAY - Mercury opposes Jupiter and trines Neptune, Venus inconjuncts Pluto
FRIDAY - Sun trines Chiron
SATURDAY - Mercury opposes Pluto
SUNDAY - Sun squares Uranus

I am writing this pretty late and pretty fast and there is a cray-cray amount of aspects to unpack - so when I say 'unpack' you can kind of picture the clothes strewn all over the hotel room and know we are going to have to iron them out later in the dailies!

This is a powerful week and pulls us toward next week's Full Moon in Aquarius.

Mercury is walking new degrees now and by mid-week Venus will be, too.

So, multiple story lines are wrapping up and we are moving FORWARD. By next week Venus and Mercury will both be in new signs, so this week we may have some uncomfortable loose ends to work through/tie up before we get the hell out of Gemini and Cancer!

Mars, on the other hand, starts walking the degrees in Aries - starting at 15 degrees - he will walk two more times between now and the end of the year. So whatever we are doing now, taking action on, have going on (in our personal lives and collectively) with our natal Aries house theme is GOING TO BE A LONG, BACK AND FORTH PROCESS - keep this in mind.

There is a heads-up with this that will come in now, this week (actually starting last Friday), so pay attention - although with all these aspects - life will certainly have our attention!

There will be plenty of reshuffling of the cards as we move forward. Venus and Mercury try to hash out with Pluto their positions with the old power structures, while Uranus threatens to tip over the poker table, if people just continue to play the same old games by the same old rules.

So, here we go!

MONDAY - let's start with the Moon - in Scorpio now, so nurturing us through truth/depth/getting to the bottom of things even when the bottom is kind of gunky. She will square the Leo Sun (8:32AM EDT at 4 degrees). The shadow vs the shiny outside coating. What we do in the light of day vs what we do in the dark. Squares are tension/frustration. Maybe we want to roar/have some fun and we have this serious other thing to deal with.

(collectively in the U.S. this Quarter Moon as the follow-up to last week's New Moon in Cancer where we talked about, yes, uh, porpoises shooting from our fingers, but also about the government stimulus programs during the virus/and its ramifications - changes to which are being ironed out by Congress today - Leo/Scorpio - a spotlight on important financial decisions, with Leo - the Sun, also the father, standing in for the New Moon's Saturn - I would expect some serious behind the scenes scheming)

Jupiter sextiles Neptune - this is a repeating aspect and takes us back to late February when both planets were direct. Maybe an old opportunity re-presents itself. The fly in the ointment here - always a damn fly - is we have Venus (in Gemini for only a few more days) squaring Neptune and inconjunct Jupiter at the same time, so we are going to have to really look at the details/facts here. Something could look better/bigger than it actually is. This is the third of three for the Venus/Neptune square, this is the one with Venus direct and Neptune retrograde, so we should be clearer on what we want now. This is mutable energy and squares bring challenges, we are going to need to be flexible.

Mercury squares Mars for the second time (first was in early June). This speaks of the possibility of tension/frustration/arguments around family/home/real estate/mothering/security/foundational situations or your natal Cancer house theme. Our thinking is at odds with our actions. Cutting words. Verbal conflicts. With Mercury opposing Pallas - it can be hard to see the smart move/to see the patterns we need to see. Negotiations are challenging. We could feel like we are walking on egg shells. THE FLOOR IS LAVA.

The smooth energetic - the sextile - is Jupiter/Neptune, so Cappy/Pisces - building the dream stuff. Both planets are retrograde, so we have been here before. Reality and our imagination working together. Earth and spirit.

THURSDAY - Mercury (covering new ground in Cancer) opposes a retrograde Jupiter while trining (brakes off) a retrograde Neptune. So, now conversations, ideas, family, home, real estate, mother, home business, family business, security issues are pulled into the Jupiter/Neptune "opportunity".

Maybe we are thinking (Mercury) big (Jupiter) and having lots of ideas. But not everyone is in agreement here/not everyone is on the same page. It will be easy to slip into a Neptunian delusion, so keep your feet on the ground. Meditate. Create. Pray. Ask your ancestors for guidance. 

We are looking at the trees, but the forest is pressing in on us, too. Or we are looking at the forest and a tree branch hits us in the eye. We might have misinterpreted something because we have been glossing over the facts to make everyone comfortable and we can't not see them. We could have over-promised and now that is biting us in the butt. We could easily over-promise now. We (or someone else) could be all talk and no action.

At the same time, Venus, out of her retrograde shadow now and covering the last few degrees of Gemini for the first time, inconjuncts (rock and a hard place) powerful Pluto, retrograde in Cappy. Gemini/Capricorn is the difference between keeping things light and flexible and getting serious/committed. So how do we make that work? Adjustments are needed and then not everyone will be happy anyway.

Or maybe situations conspire to remind us of the dead values/relationships/resources we are carrying around or have hanging over our head.

I said in 2019 that anything 'dead' we were still carrying in 2020 was going to feel like it was eating us alive ... have you checked your ankles for bite marks lately?

FRIDAY - the Sun (in Leo) trines Chiron (in Aries). Courage/following our heart/being generous/stepping into our own white-hot spotlight are healing. Fun is healing. Kids are healing. Romance is healing. Expressing ourselves is healing. Our vulnerabilities. Our ego. This light on our weaknesses is maybe not such a bad thing after all.

SATURDAY - Mercury opposes a retrograde Pluto. Our words/ideas/information is challenged. Mercury squared Pluto back on April 25th just as Pluto stationed retrograde. Pluto has backed up one degree and Mercury has finished up Aries, traveled through Taurus, Gemini and Cancer (some parts of Cancer three times) and now they meet again - this time by opposition. We want to take care with pushing our ideas on other people/manipulation. Obsession. Power struggles. We will probably be overthinking everything. Maybe a home or career situation reaches a culmination.

SUNDAY - the Sun in Leo squares Uranus in Taurus. Something unexpected. Maybe our Leo pride gets shaken up. Or we go way out on a limb seeking attention/applause/risk/following our heart. This is a square so change brings tension/frustration. Changes with money, resources, our values. Bridges could be burned with this one, folks.


xo all - back with the dailies on Tuesday and a big picture post this week! please excuse any typos!


photo by the talented Fanny-Schwal

Today's Astrology Forecast | Sunday, July 26, 2020 - the one where things start out smooth and easy and then get heavy and complicated, the galactic year begins

The Moon is in Libra now - nourished through relationships, balance, fairness, peace. She will trine Venus at 6:44AM EDT and then things get more tense as she starts squaring that Cappy pile-up (all retrograde) - Jupiter at 8:41AM EDT, Pluto at 1:12PM EDT and goes void at 9:08PM EDT off a square to Saturn. Squares speak of tension/frustration (and lead to the opportunities for growth that come as we work through them/experience them).

She will be void until she deep-dives into Scorpio at 12:11AM EDT.

So, something can start out smooth and easy and then get more complicated/heavy/uncomfortable fast (maybe our expectations are too high to start with). Clashing beliefs/power struggles when that Moon just wants everyone to play nice/keep things civil. 

That final square to Saturn, a limit/wall/rule - what we can't do/can't have.

Venus/Saturn can make it hard to feel the love. The love feels conditional - maybe it is hard to live up to certain standards. It can make it hard for us to connect to our own sense of worth.

Ending in Scorpio, maybe we get to see what's really going on under the hood (if we dare to look).

We merge. We purge. Whenever the Moon dives into Scorpio after a Libran square - especially late at night - it makes me think of the powers of make up sex, but also the ways it keeps things unresolved sometimes. All these planets are retrograde, so we are working the process with whatever we are dealing with.

Figuring out how to get along with other people/keep things in balance during very complicated times.

Yesterday was "the day out of time" based on the lunar/Mayan/galactic calendar system - 13 lunar months with 28 day cycles leaves that one day every year at loose ends - think 'hanging chad' here. Today, July 26th, starts the Galactic New Year and with the Moon in Libra and Venus (Libra's ruler) moving out of her shadow this week and answering to Mercury (out of his/her shadow tomorrow and ruler of the North Node this year) through Gemini - choices/changes/fresh conversations seems especially well-timed. This new year, will have its emotional roots in our relationships, our finances, our values (Venusian themes).

The New Year speaks of fresh energy/a fresh start and so do the ending of those retrograde shadow periods - both Venus and Mercury start walking fresh degrees.

Whenever the astro shows us the same thing in multiple ways - we can trust it. Things are changing. BIG choices are coming.

Keep this in mind.

Ultimately, Venus and Saturn are great friends. And relationships with people whose planets hit our Saturns are incredibly potent opportunities for growth. Such people don't fall for our "performance" and require we learn to be more honest. And then in the end, because we can't fool other people, we have to take up the problem ourselves ....

xo all - back with the weekly tonight!

photo by the talented WonderMilkyGirl