Today's Astrology Forecast | Friday, February 19, 2021 - challenging conversations and ideas shouldn't be avoided now, making a flexible choice, seeing multiple options, getting out of our head

 

 

The Moon is in Gemini now - we are nurtured through ideas/learning, conversations, variety, versatility, humor/logic, pairs of things, interactions within our local community, with our siblings, our tech/transportation, commerce (sounds random, but think about Mercury/Hermes, ruler of Gemini, our fleet footed and trickster messenger and about how ideas and other things spread). Her only aspect today, our important monthly First Quarter Square. The Gemini Moon squaring the Pisces Sun at 1:47PM EST.

Today is ripe with squares actually, but forewarned is forearmed!

The Gemini/Pisces square could indicate a tense conversation or information that comes in. We might want to escape/avoid, but we won't be able to and avoiding the tension of the First Quarter Square just mucks things up. We need to work through this. We might have to make a choice/decision. We might need to separate the Gemini facts/sets of things from the Piscean illusion/boundless whole. Mercury, ruler of Gemini, is still retrograde, so this might still be about needed revisions.

 

On the flipside and there's always at least two sides - this can be about us needing emotional connection. We need to get out of our own heads for awhile! We might try being more compassionate and less logical (like that recently-resigned mayor in Texas who said 'man it up' at precisely the wrong moment - knowing/feeling the difference between when to help/offer grace and when to stay detached is a skill much needed now).

 

The skies have moved from Aquarius to Pisces people - try and keep up.

 

Once we get clear here/work through the square/DECIDE we will be back in the monthly flow of the Moon. This isn't about making a firm stand because Mercury is still retrograde, but more about kind of guiding the energies - this is all mutable energy, decisions are SUBJECT TO CHANGE. Tomorrow the Gemini Moon is going to start trining (brakes off, smooth flow) the Aquarius planets, but we have to get through this square first. 

 

Avoiding a choice/decision/conversation now means the trines won't have anything solid to work with! There can be no smooth flow, if there's no water in the river. And keep in mind Gemini isn't really about narrowing anything down to just one thing - there can be multiple ways through here. Multiple ideas. Multiple answers. Multiple rivers.

This is also the day Venus squares Mars and Vesta squares Juno - so we are pushed and cornered on all fronts. Venus/Mars is more of the Aquarius/Taurus we have been dealing with this month. The Saturn/Uranus was more collective/big picture and today's energies are more immediate/personal. 

 

What we want vs what we have to do to get what we want. The future vs what we hold in our hands now. What we want to have later vs what we have right now. Freedom vs stability. The feminine vs the masculine. Air vs earth. Detachment vs getting our hands in the dirt. This one can cut either way. Actions to hold onto something can work against our need for greater freedom/space/the future or a new/unusual attraction can work against our efforts to create something solid/stable or keep what we have now. 

At the same time a retrograde Vesta has backed into her exact square with Juno. This is more mutable energy, but this time Virgo/Sagittarius. With Vesta retrograde we will be back here again around the middle of June, so this one needs some time to iron out. Vesta in Virgo is focused on healing/fixing. But maybe focused Vesta in focused Virgo is too focused on what is going wrong and can't see what is going right. Juno (our partnerships, contracts, commitments, women) is in Sagittarius bringing some big-picture hope/optimism/greener pastures over there. She can see what is/can be going right, but is maybe avoiding the thing that needs fixing. What to do with this one? Well, this will be a process and happening at the time of the First Quarter Square - again will indicate a need to make a choice/have a conversation, stay flexible. With the Moon in Gemini multiple things can work - maybe a two pronged approach is needed. If this is a partnership thing with one partner obsessed with what is wrong and one partner being more optimistic, but maybe avoiding the problem altogether - the tension of this/the need to do SOMETHING/make some progress with this, will be felt now.

Not an easy day, but the tension/frustration is NEEDED. Last week's Aquarius New Moon was mega-charged - and lands with TWO FULL MOONS in Aquarius next summer. Here is where we meet our first challenge/get to review our progress.

 

We don't want to be skipping steps/falling asleep at the wheel.

We know the Gemini Moon is about communication/information, so DON'T avoid that now. 

 

Keep your eyes open. Stay flexible (good advice for slipping on ice now, too, think - fall like a drunk/toddler and now that I see the words drunk/toddler, my use of the back slash is annoying even me - not sure how you, dear reader, put up with it). 

 

We've got this thing.

xo all

painting by the talented Caitlin Southwick

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