Today's Astrology Forecast | Thursday, February 18, 2021 - Pisces season rolls in, the Taurus Moon setting up next week's ambitions

The Moon is exalted in Taurus now - we are nurtured through our creature comforts, simplicity, touch, taking our time. She squared Jupiter while we slept (EST), sextiles (opportunity) imaginative Neptune at 2:29PM EST, squares ruler Venus at 6:21PM EST and meets Mars at 7:47PM EST. 

 

She goes void at 2:28AM EST and will be void until 11:04AM EST tomorrow morning when she moves into Gemini, predicting a communicative/busy weekend.

 

So, emotionally, today looks like a mixed bag. 

 

This is kind of setting up - the Moon in Taurus squaring Venus in Aquarius - tomorrow's Mars (in Taurus) squaring Venus which we talked about in the weekly HERE. The difference today is the Moon is exalted in Taurus (whereas Mars is weak), her square to Venus (relationships, money, women), should be less taxing. We can know our value/our worth here. When the Moon meets Mars tonight, we might feel more driven/productive and then there is that late night trine (brakes off) to powerful Pluto, an excellent way to end this Taurus Moon. Next week, Mars will be the one trining Pluto and we will have Mercury direct and things should feel more forward moving/stable. Tonight's Moon might provide a prequel.

 

Today is also the day the Sun moves into Pisces. He will be in Pisces until March 20th. 

 

This is the mutable season that carries us from winter (fixed air Aquarius) to spring (fiery initiating Aries). Pisces season enables a more physical involvement in the imaginative/intuitive realms. We can also require more rest - take this seriously. Keep in mind our Pisces natal house (maybe unless it is aspecting our Sun or we have certain Neptune placements) can be pretty well hidden from us. This is the area of life we run on intuition. Common sense/practical action doesn't really work. As the Sun travels through this house in our chart we get some CLARITY on what is going on here and maybe some fiery solar initiative becomes more useful. 

 

Keep in mind, because boundaries can be limiting but also make us less vulnerable - Pisces energy has no boundaries because it transcends reality. 

 

Fantasy, our dreams/imagination, our spirituality, our creativity, healing/recuperation, compassion - this is Pisces territory. And like all signs, Pisces negatives are always only the positives taken to an extreme - where fantasy becomes illusion/lies, recuperation/a need for connection becomes escape/addiction, compassion maybe martyrdom. Also keep in mind, our transiting Sun being boundary-less and all - it might be more easy to catch/absorb what the fellow next to us is putting out there - whether that be a lie, a virus or his/her mood.

 

Pisces is the last sign and always a good season to be releasing what is draining or fading. 

 

Or over-working us.

xo all

painting by the amazing Catrin Welz-Stein

Saturn vs Uranus 2021 | the astrology of the battle for the Age of Aquarius - part I - when death creates life, the redistribution of power

 

 

The BIG repeating aspect of 2021 is the Saturn/Uranus square as Saturn in Aquarius squares Uranus in Taurus. 

 

The first square in this series of three is today, February 17th. They square again on June 14th with Saturn retrograde and finally on December 24th (Merry Christmas Eve - what did Biden just say about back to normal by Christmas) with Uranus retrograde - so this aspect is in play pretty much all year. And we have been feeling it for awhile.

 

Saturn and Uranus are the unlikely co-rulers of Aquarius. Father and son in myth, their relationship ended when Saturn (the son) killed Uranus (the father) symbolically bringing order (Saturn) to chaos (Uranus).

 

In 2021 they battle, again, this time with Saturn in Aquarius - new rules/limits/responsibilities particularly within the collective/the group/with technology/the future, but also new solutions to very old problems. And with Uranus in Taurus - changes with what we own/value, to how we make and use money/our resources, changes with our self-esteem and our physical environment/the planet.

 

With Saturn/Uranus we could be feeling restricted/antsy. A sudden or unexpected challenge/result could happen now. This could be a consequence of some erratic (don't fence me in) or disorderly/unreliable behavior on our part or someone else's. Or maybe we can see now the hard earned results/culmination of something innovative/future or group focused. Whatever this is, coming through the challenging energy of the square, it feels like tension/frustration/anxiety.

 

Saturnian aspects are kind of like tests. With Saturn in Aquarius, our responsibilities to the collective are a focus/being tested. As well as authority's restrictions on the collective - a focus AND being tested. With Uranus in Taurus, our hive-mind memories of collective and personal trauma around our values, our security, our resources, our money and self-esteem are being shaken/not stirred. 

 

With a worldwide pandemic and the response/results/restrictions - no need to guess how this is showing up. We are all in this together.

 

Big picture - Uranus is chaotic (and pre-dates structure/Saturn) and chaos is always about the re-distribution of power. Authority is challenged. And rebelliousness/freedom is limited. With both planets strong here, and Uranus pretty much unpredictable, it's anyone's guess how this will all play out. We are in the final/early stages of the birth of the Age of Aquarius, maybe the birth-canal part - pre-Pluto in Aquarius when the power moves to the people (if we handle this right) - what kind of baby we are birthing is still being determined. I am hoping for one who sleeps through the night, eats her vegetables and doesn't say she hates me when she turns thirteen.

This year's Saturn/Uranus square is the CLOSING square cycle of a longer cycle that started back on February 12, 1988 (ran through 1989) when they met at 28 degrees Sagittarius (conjunct the Galactic Center - homing signal, seat of creation in our Milky Way Galaxy). The cycle closes out (and a new one begins) on June 28, 2032 when they meet again at 27 degrees Gemini - so almost exactly opposing where they started.

 

We are going to take our time unpacking this in a series of posts, because time we got folks and these Aqua planets have totally zapped my Aquarius stellium energy. This one isn't going anywhere anytime soon. We'll start with this week's chart and then reverse course back to the beginning in 1988. 

 

Does that make sense? Probably not, we might have to zig and zag.

 

Saturn in Aquarius squaring Uranus in Taurus is unpredictable - there is no way to know how 2021 (and this aspect continues into 2022) is going to play out. As long as we don't expect the future to look like the past (it won't), keep an open mind and open heart - we will be OK. More than OK. We are going to thrive in this new landscape. We were made for these times. Truly. Even though, I know, many of us right now are feeling like we weren't. Me, too. We are really not supposed to know what we are doing right now - the North Node is in Gemini - it is a time of questions. And, yes, I realize this 'not knowing' thing means making decisions and even knowing what is 'true' is a hell of alot harder - yes, that's how it is. And it's nothing more than just that. Just how it is.

For now, the tension/frustration/anxiety is creating a need for change. Pushing us to change something. Expect it will be hard to focus. Hard to feel stable. That's how this time is supposed to feel. Here in the United States the weather is especially cold and wet and sustained - all these Aquarius planets! Some power grids (Uranus rules electricity) are stopped (Saturn). Interesting that Texas has its own power grid to avoid dealing with authority and now it is down. Frozen wind turbines sound pretty Aquarius, too!

 

We are feeling even more frozen in place. Is this possible? Can an icicle get any icier?

Keep in mind where we are - hexagram 23, Stripping Away - we talked about this HERE. 

In the I Ching, "returning" (hexagram 24) follows the stripping away. 

In winter nothing moves or grows, but there is an aliveness/a holy thunder dwelling quietly at the center of the Earth awaiting the warmer grounds of spring. We are the same as the Earth. In ancient days the kings (and the weather) contained people's impulse to rush out and resume business as usual during these times, so that the energy for growth would not be squandered in the depths of winter. The same is happening to us now.

This is a turning point on our path, a moment of forced stillness to turn inward and listen for little visions and inklings of awareness. To nurture the seeds of our personal sense of direction. 

 

We can't blow it. Don't worry. This 'rising from our sweaty death bed sheets' is both an instantaneous thing and a long slog through the wilderness. Everything that has been shamed, made invisible, silent or insignificant, misunderstood, hidden away and forgotten is coming back from the closet where we (or our ancestors) crammed it and then became too afraid to look at it. 

 

Death being our biggest fear and what needs to be avoided at all costs. Or is it?

 

And in embracing the parts of ourselves we have made dead (sometimes by pushing them onto someone else) we will shift to a relationship with the new life that arises. We can't not shift. Everyone gets a seat at the table this year. And every part of ourselves gets a seat, too.

Hang in there. We get three shots at this square this year. This will be the easiest one in the sense that it is the gentlest nudge in the new direction (the pebble at our head instead of the rock) and with Mercury set to station direct in a few days AND with some nice aspects next week - something is intended to shake loose. 

 

If nothing changed, nothing would change, right?

xo all

 

painting by the amazing Jane McNeely

Today's Astrology Forecast | Monday, february 15, 2021 - a time for action and initiative, a focus on our partnerships and commitments past and future

 

We reach the middle of February with the Moon in independent and fiery Aries - nourished by independence, action, initiative, courage, anger, men. We are making opportunistic sextiles with the Aquarius planets - Saturn late last night, a retrograde Mercury at 11:49AM EST, Jupiter at 1:21PM EST and finally Venus at 10:39PM EST.

Action (even on impulse), initiative, courage (even, appropriately explored anger) with our communications, expansion, social activities - are all progressive/create opportunities. Mercury (in Aquarius) is squaring Black Moon Lilith (in Taurus) so pulling in that Aquarius/Taurus square tension/frustration that has been so prevalent this January/February. Mercury is still retrograde, cool and logical in Aquarius even while moving backward and Black Moon Lilith is back in the garden, she was so unceremoniously tossed from so many years ago. Again the old vs the new, the stable/stuck vs the chaotic/liberating future. Here maybe physical needs vs detached, intellectual, over-thinking. 

Venus is trining the North Node of Fate. In Aquarius she is attracted to the unusual/the future/thinking with her head. Social activities pull us forward. Group/causes/tech pulls us forward. Women pull us forward. Love and beauty pull us forward. A more liberating kind of love pulls us forward. The future is coming. The future is now. Keep in mind that North Node in Gemini - breaking things into bite-sized pieces, keeping things local, multiple ways forward, communication, our community, siblings/cousins/childhood friends, transportation, technology, writing, learning (as opposed to teaching). Progress is smooth. Something falls into place. Click.

Juno meets the South Node and opposes the North Node. Conjunctions bring results as stories wind up and new stories begin. Our committed relationships/contracts probably need a little more space/versatility. Things that are not what they once were, probably because we aren't, will require revisions/maybe endings. Our beliefs have shifted. What needs to go? Keep in mind Juno is opposing that North Node in Gemini - how does our conversation, within partnerships and committed relationships, need to CHANGE? This is a repeating aspect we will see again in July and August, so whatever this relationship/commitment 'wrap-up' is - and keep in mind Juno's major player story-line throughout 2020 -  it's getting multiple hits.

 

xo all 

photo by the amazing thefirebomb

Weekly Astrology Forecast for Creatives | February 15th - February 21st, 2021 - relationships and money re-inventions/endings/beginnings, the old vs the new, the boys vs the girls, decisions, moving on and moving forward

 

 

Let's jump right in and unpack the week!

 

MONDAY - Venus trines the North Node, Juno conjuncts the South Node

WEDNESDAY - Saturn squares Uranus 

THURSDAY - Sun into Pisces

FRIDAY - Venus squares Mars, First Quarter Moon (1 degree Gemini/Pisces)

SATURDAY - Mercury stations direct (11 degrees Aquarius)

SUNDAY - Ceres into Aries 

MONDAY - Venus, at 17 degrees Aquarius trines the North Node in Gemini

Venus themes - love, relationships, money, resources, our values/self-esteem - progress smoothly. What we want now/how we attract what we want - is pulling us into future/away from the past. With Venus in Aquarius and Uranus in Taurus (so in mutual reception), this is super-charged. 

 

Change can be sudden. Things we didn't used to want, well now we do - and here we go. We could move rapidly into a new way to make money/new values/new love and/or just as rapidly find ourselves needing to step away from something we are no longer able to force ourselves into alignment with/hence liberation and change. Trines are smooth flow, but anything Aquarius can be a little jarring. Aquarius/Gemini are airy/mental signs, so this will be more about logic/facts than some uber emotional thing. And keep in mind, trines are effortless - tune into what you want. 

 

Stay open to the unexpected/unusual.

At the same time, Juno, a HUGE player in 2020 - our primary relationships/marriage/commitments/contracts tested - meets the South Node in Sagittarius. What/who needs to go? What commitments/contracts need to end? What beliefs have we committed to that are keeping us stuck? Time to say bye-bye and cut those cords.

WEDNESDAY - Saturn, at 7 degrees Aquarius squares Uranus in Taurus

This is our BIG three-peating challenge of 2021. 

 

This first square is happening at 7 degrees, so people with planets/points near 7 degrees of the fixed signs - Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius - will feel this first square strongest. Since Jupiter met Saturn back on the winter solstice and the world started up again (I know, I think I missed this 'starting up again' thing, too, but the astro shows it did, so it did) we have been in this kind of push/pull expansion/contraction world. January's expansion/explosions bringing February's contractions/reality checks. We kind of get the whole year in two months and then we spend the rest of the year re-living it/ironing it out.

 

Jupiter wants to expand the collective/push us into the future. Saturn, strong in Aquarius the sign he co-rules, brings the reality checks/limits. Now, Saturn moves into his exact square with Aqua's other co-ruler Uranus (busy disrupting our money, values, self-esteem for the last couple years). This is a fixed square between chaos/change and stability - the new vs the old. The future vs the past. Your Taurus house theme is changing/won't be fenced in. Your Aquarius house theme is kind of laying down the law. Yes, this all sounds ass-backwards and it is and this is why we all feel so unstable. We'll talk about this in more detail in its own series. 

 

We won't get the final Saturn/Uranus square until December, so this story-line will be in play all year.

 

Note - these Saturn/Uranus squares of 2021 are the third quarter squares - so the WANING SQUARES - in a Saturn/Uranus cycle birthed when they met each other conjunct the Galactic Center (29 degrees Sagittarius) back in February 1988 and won't wrap up until 2032.

THURSDAY - the Sun leaves Aquarius, the sign of his detriment, and moves into dreamy Pisces

 

I once knew alot of Pisces people and noticed Pisces are particularly proud of their Sun signs. I have never known a Pisces who would rather be anything else. Maybe it's because they are the last sign, I don't know. But Pisces really seem to like being Pisces. This time of year when the Sun moves into Pisces, we all start burning Pisces fuel, feel a little bit of what it's like to be a Pisces - we get more sensitive, more intuitive, more imaginative/artistic, more spiritual/connected, hopefully more compassionate. Often we need more rest. It's like we all get a taste of a 12th house Sun for a while and need to find ways to rejuvenate 

 

(we are also more likely to have childhood memories pop up to deal with and past life memories, if you resonate with that, any addictions/escapist tendencies can get our attention now, too). 

Of course, we still have our natal (and progressed Sun signs) running the show, but we get a little high-octane Pisces magic in our tank, too. The Sun acts kind of like an engine moving us forward and it makes perfect sense that it rules Leo - the sign of our heart (engine). 

The sun teaches us that doing what is in our heart and doing what is required of us is actually the same thing. 

We get this stuff confused because we think doing what's in our heart will make us happy. 

 

That's not always true. 

 

The sun's light may be very bright and feel really good sometimes, but the sun's light burns, too. 

 

Following our heart doesn't guarantee a happy life; it does guarantee an authentic one though. At the end of our days in rocking chairs or hospital beds we will be content with what we have done.

How does Pisces energy work with your Sun sign? Give that one a think.

FRIDAY - Venus, at 23 degrees Aquarius, squares Mars in Taurus and we have the First Quarter Square Moon in Gemini

Venus/Mars is another one of these Aquarius/Taurus squares that are dominating February. Again, the future/the disorder (but also liberation) that comes with change vs stability/security/the rules. Venus has just trined the North Node and she's like 'here is this unusual, for me, thing I want now and the Universe is all on board', and Mars is like, 'I am over here struggling to keep what we have/keep this boat afloat dammit'. Tension. Frustration. We could come across as too pushy or maybe we get too focused on what we want/want to keep. This is what we want vs what we have to do to get what we want being at cross-purposes somehow. The feminine energy and the masculine energy not playing so well in the sandbox.

At the same time, the Moon is moving through versatile/multi-tasking/communicative Gemini now and moves into a fast square with that new Pisces Sun. Here is our first challenge after last week's New Moon in Aquarius, designed to bring CLARITY through learning and intuition. Gemini/Pisces. Fast thinking/give me the facts Gemini is annoyed by Pisces sensitivity/dreaminess. Sensitive/other-worldy Pisces is annoyed by Gemini's objectivication. These are both ambiguous/versatile signs, so can't ignore each other. Gemini naturally wants to categorize and break things down and Pisces naturally wants to absorb/connect. Squares are tension/frustration/challenges.

 

The bottom line here is THE NEED TO CHOOSE. The reality/the future is calling. We can't keep dreaming our life away. Can we? What we decide now will have alot to say with what transpires at this year's Full Moon in Virgo on February 27th. This is the facts/our smarts vs our dreams/intuition - as always, we get to choose. Just keep in mind, Gemini is the sign of the North Node (our best path forward) this year, so we probably want to be integrating the powerful Pisces WITHOUT losing ourselves in any kind of lalaland. Also, keep in mind, this is all happening at 1 degree, so will have a ways to go, whatever we decide.

SATURDAY - Mercury stations direct at 11 degrees Aquarius. YAY! We now begin one final pass over 11- 26 degrees Aquarius before we start covering completely new ground in March. Whatever slowed down or got delayed around the end of January is MOVING FORWARD. Here we go! This can super-charge our New Moon agenda big time. 

SUNDAY - Ceres, after months and month and months in Pisces, following directly on the heels of Mercury with her retrograde (and keep in mind Ceres and Mercury were two of the players in that Saturn/Pluto 'time runs out' back in January 2020 and have been running a tag team through Pisces, the sign of viruses for the last year) finally gets into Aries. When I was looking ahead from last summer for some 'weakening' scenarios to the virus, this 'Ceres exits Pisces' thing was one of the things I thought we should be looking for. Well, here she goes. Fingers crossed. Good news, even though we now have the Sun in Pisces kind of shining a light on the virus. Maybe this is good since viruses don't do so well in the light.

 

The ramifications/our response/the restrictions - with Saturn, the sign of authority/limits in Aquarius, the sign of the people and also the sign of technology - isn't going away anytime soon, I would suspect. Although with Ceres (nurturing) out of limitless Pisces and into 'let go of the baby's hand or he'll never learn to walk' Aries - a need for independence/initiative, some of that should lessen, too.

Now, that the Sun is out of Aquarius, with Venus and then Mercury soon to follow (breaking up the fixed squares), some of these January/February stresses will start to ease.

 

Next week we have some helpful trines and sextiles and collectively March looks way easier (keeping in mind I can't see your personal chart) 

 

than January's explosions and February's retractions - which I wrote about back in December and amazingly have played out precisely this way in the collective and probably in our personal lives, too. Astrology is amazing stuff, although we always have to keep in mind we are looking at it through our own eyes, with our own biases, etc.  

Hang in there everyone, spring will be here ... eventually.

xo all

Note - Trump's impeachment trial - started on a Void Moon, as we talked about in an earlier post - didn't amount to anything. With Mercury retrograde in Aqua though, somehow the re-look process still needed to be done, but this week we are MOVING ON from that, too! 

photo by the talented Miguel-Santos