Today's astrology Forecast | Sunday, May 23rd, 2021 - Saturn stations retrograde, fix it or forget it - our final shot at this

 

 

The Moon is in Libra now - we are nourished/nurtured through other people, our relationships, peace, beauty, symmetry, bringing things into balance. She trined ruler Venus at 2:35AM EDT, squared Mars at 3:50AM EDT, trines Mercury at 11:59AM EDT and finally goes void off a square to Pluto at 5:36PM EDT. She will be void until 11:00PM EDT when she dives into Scorpio. With Venus in Gemini, the squares can bring disagreements/unwelcome information. The trine to Mercury is good for light, social conversations and interactions.

This is also the day Vesta squares the North and South Nodes from her perch in Virgo (third of three).

 

This is that problem/needed fix we have been dealing with since the end of December. Once again we are reminded via tension/frustration we need to fix it or forget it (if it can't be fixed). 

 

This is standing in the way of our North Node journey forward/some mess from the past that won't be ignored. This is our last passage through here with Vesta in Virgo's devotion to the details. If it can be fixed - fix it. Virgo is small/steady actions - one step leads to the next. It's fix it or stay fixed in place in this God-awful no man's land. If we are too invested in something that can't be fixed/up at night stressing out/planted our ladder against the wrong wall - this is the time to end this situation.

Happening at the same time Saturn is stationing retrograde (and Mercury, ruler of Virgo and Vesta is answering to him/her will station next week) pulls Saturn into our Vesta story and Vesta into Saturn's. We are backing up folks.

 

From the weekly:

 

Generally the best use of Saturn retrogrades is going back over structural issues. Re-considering our commitments. Re-thinking our responsibilities. Re-assessing our goals and ambitions. Re-defining our boundaries. Re-valuing our time. Re-structuring our projects. Sometimes we get to see what is holding us up because it isn't holding us up anymore. Dad is on vacation folks. Some situations will halt/reverse course temporarily. Rules/limits/sometimes responsibilities can ease up.

What happens for us personally depends on our natal chart and our relationship with Saturn. If we have planets/points between 13 degrees Aquarius and 6 degrees Aquarius, (add a couple degrees on either side) we will feel his retrograde strongest. The ease-up thing is probably not happening for these folks. This can also apply to planets/points in the other fixed 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 that we, or our ancestors - think patriarchal line here -  have previously avoided, we will likely 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's 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.  Wherever Saturn goes, so does our time and commitment. When planets are retrograde, more of the work becomes internal. He will station direct on October 10th and then - it's full steam ahead/report card time. 

Back with the weekly! 

xo all

 

artwork by the talented Dimitri Sirenko

Saturday Night Mystery | the astrology of an Attempted Kidnapping in Florida - asteroid Thereus, the hunter/stalker and how being vulnerable doesn't have to mean being afraid

 

We haven't done a Saturday Night Mystery in a while, so I thought I'd pop up a quickie. I promise to get back to the royals next weekend!

 

Here is a Saturday Night Mystery without any actual mystery since the quick thinking victim escaped physically unharmed and the bad guy was quickly arrested. I thought it might be good to look at a chart where we KNOW what happened and see if the astrology supports what we know. 

 

Here's the story - at approximately 7:00AM EDT, on May 19th, 2021, an 11 year old girl in Florida, is sitting alone on the ground waiting for the school bus when suddenly (and we see him circle around her first) a man with a knife rushes out of an SUV and attempts to abduct her. I will link to the video at the bottom of this post. 

She tries to run away, but he quickly catches her. They struggle and she is able to pull him to the ground or cause him to fall. She is also able to smear some of the blue slime she has been playing with at the bus stop on the perpetrator's arms (so police can find him later, she says - this amazing girl is a Law and Order SVU fan). With this not going according to his plans and most likely approaching traffic, he runs back to his car and flees. She grabs her books and runs off in the opposite direction. It's all over in less than two minutes.

A video camera from a local business (?) captures the whole thing, so we have an accurate time and accounting. Let's unpack the chart!

 

In this type of event chart, the victim is signified by both the Moon and the ruler of the Ascendant. 

 

The Ascendant is 15 degrees Gemini, so answering to Mercury, in Gemini. Before looking at the chart I wondered if Gemini was rising and it was. Mercury in his/her home sign gives the victim added strength, speed and cleverness. Mercury is conjunct Venus (in Gemini, too, so answering to Mercury) and the Ascendant. So we have a female (Venus) child (Gemini/Mercury) waiting for a school bus (Gemini/Mercury) able to escape a car (Gemini/Mercury) abduction in her local community (Gemini/Mercury) by using her agility, her wits and skills she learned by watching a TV show - all very Mercurian! With both Mercury and Venus currently out of bounds (ahead of the Sun/out of the control of the Sun and acting unreliably), she was able to quickly get out of the perpetrator's control. We have done these charts before where the perpetrator has the advantage of a void Moon or an out-of-bound planet to avoid capture, but this time the tables are turned. Gemini also represents duality and pairs, so probably he has either done this before or tried this before.

The Moon is the other significator (stand-in) for the victim. 

 

Here the Moon is in brave Leo (conjunct asteroid Thereus - we'll get back to him) answering to the Sun (in Taurus so answering to that out of bounds Venus - with Mercury again being the final dispositor). The Moon is on the IC/her physical self/home territory and in the 3rd house - Gemini's house of agility, quick thinking, our local community, transportation. If we could see this brave, young girl's chart we would probably see some activated Mars/Mercury. 

The perpetrator is signified by the ruler of the Descendant. 

 

Here we see Sagittarius - the archer/hunter. Textbook Sag physicality (not a Sag Sun sign) is a person who is kind of larger than life, with a well-proportioned body, might be tall, might be overweight, strong, brown hair or possibly bald, brown complexion, oval face, high forehead, handsome, well-spoken. Sagittarius rules what is foreign. I know he was a local person, but am not sure if he was foreign born or was pretending to be or planning to take her some distance away. Sagittarius is ruled by Jupiter on the mid-heaven/the top of the chart at 0 degrees Pisces. Jupiter is strong in Pisces (and answering to Neptune in Pisces), but Pisces itself could show he is mentally ill/on drugs. 

 

Jupiter (the perpetrator) is opposing the Moon (the victim) and squaring the Sun (the victim here through Leo, but also in general - authority). Within a couple minutes of leaving the scene, the perpetrator calls his boss from his vehicle to say he will be late for work. He is Jupiter here, in the 10th house of career/authority, talking (all the Mercury/Gemini) to his boss (authority). He lies (Pisces) and says he had to drive his own child to school (more Mercury/Gemini). So, he is immediately pulling authority into the event and then authority (police) find him within hours. All visible in the event chart. Jupiter on the top of the chart - he comes to the attention of the public/into the hands of authority very quickly. 

 

His final dispositor is Neptune (22 degrees Pisces) which squares her final dispositor, Mercury (20 degrees Gemini). We always see a connection between victim and perpetrator in this kind of event chart if the chart is usable.

Missing an out of bounds Mercury/Venus acting through the young girl, this story could have gone another way. We tend to think of out of bound planets as trouble, but sometimes trouble is just what is needed. She was able to act unpredictably (to him).. she isn't playing by the rules. He thinks she will just get in the car with him (and we have seen that happen in events like this), but her mind and body are fast. She is one step ahead of him/stronger then he thinks. And he is that Jupiter at the top of chart/knows he only has a brief window before 'he will be seen'. He gives up and escapes (Neptune/Pisces), but not for long, in Saturn's (authority's) natural house. 

 

If he had been able to get her in the car and outside her familiar community, his Jupiter/Neptune would have had the upper hand. Thank God (and Goddesses), he didn't.

Asteroid Thereus popped up within a 1 degree orb of the chart's Moon (the victim), so let's take a look at him. 

 

There isn't much information out there about Centaur Asteroid Thereus. Like Pholus, he bridges Saturn and Neptune - the known and the unknown. In Ovid's Metamorphoses, Thereus was spoken of as a centaur said to hunt bears and then drag them around alive and wounded. Since the story noted Thereus's cruelty as a hunter (also his boldness and strength dragging the large wounded animal around for all to see) he was deemed monstrous. There might also be something here about the hunter (the bear) becoming the hunted.

Alot can be gleaned about these new planetary bodies by studying their discovery charts

 

(see chart at right for the discovery of Thereus keeping in mind I had to chart this for noon since the actual time of day is not recorded, so we can't use the houses and the Moon may be a bit off).  

 

He was discovered on fixed star Fomalhaut (one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse stars, the bright red star that marks the winter solstice) said by Ptolemy to be of the nature of Venus and Mercury, but sometimes inclined toward malevolence. 

 

We see a Pluto/Mars/Chiron conjunction in Sagittarius - that powerful, cruel, traumatizing hunter/stalker. But also something here (with Pluto EXACT opposing Saturn) about protecting ourselves while we expand and maybe especially about protecting our real power; our vulnerability. Even something about our vulnerability (our wounds/Chiron) NOT making us less safe (which feels to me that it somehow fits this attempted kidnapping story).

 

Mars is co-ruling the chart, applying to a trine to the Leo Sun, retrograde in a fire sign AND out of bounds. Powerful Pluto opposes Saturn - Sag/Gemini. EXACT. This is the Pluto/Saturn square in 1990 that preceded last January's "time runs out" Pluto/Saturn conjunction EXACT in Thereus's discovery chart! What? How have I never noticed this Thereus fellow before?

 

Now we are going to go off-road a bit because I had to see what he was up to back in January 2020 when Saturn was meeting Pluto and "time was running out". Thereus was inconjunct the Pluto/Saturn/Sun/Mercury/Ceres 21-22 degrees Capricorn from 21 degrees Leo AND he was EXACTLY inconjunct the Jupiter/Saturn at 0 degrees Aquarius (the world starts up again, vaccines) in December 2020 from his perch at 0 degrees Virgo. WTH does this mean?! Also his glyph, I suppose designed to look like a bear paw, instead looks quite a bit like a CROWN.

 

Notice in his discovery chart we have Venus conjunct Jupiter/NN and Jupiter conjunct the North Node at 5 degrees Cancer EXACT (this was in August 1990). This is conjunct the January 2020 "time runs out" 8 degree Cancer North Node. Mercury opposes Uranus for impulsivity/chaotic thinking. If noon is anywhere near the actual discovery time, we see the chart has a Grand Fire Trine, with that powered up/chart ruling Mars trining both the Sun and the Moon. We'll have to get back to this guy!

 

For now, let's get back to our near kidnapping. 

 

The police released a birthdate for our perpetrator. He was born with Jupiter (remember he is Jupiter in the event chart) conjunct his mid-heaven, just like the event chart, and sextiling his natal Thereus placement. Transiting Pluto, at the time of his crime, is EXACTLY opposing his Jupiter. He has transiting Uranus conjunct his natal Mars (impulsive actions in his 7th house of other people) and transitting Mars on his natal Venus. He has a potentially nasty and abusive Pluto/Mars opposition in his natal with both planets activated. He has Mercury in Aquarius's natural house and Uranus (Aqua's ruler) in Mercury's natural house, combining the unusual with children and Uranus ruling his 5th house of children. The pile-up in Gemini right now is in his 8th house (sex, death). 

 

This is a very dangerous guy, having some very dangerous transits.

This brave young girl surely saved other lives beside her own. I read she went right back to school which is a good sign, I guess. I hope the people around her understand her need to heal from this and find the right process. She is being lauded as a hero (and she is) - she is also showing us the best use of out of bound planets - he thought he was taking her by surprise, but she didn't react the way he expected. He was the hunter/stalker, but then she turned the hunter into the hunted.

A big week ahead folks as Eclipse season roars back to life. 

 

A BIG story is ending, our view of WHAT IS POSSIBLE is set to morph. Are we ready?!

xo all

the attempted abduction video is HERE

Today's Astrology Forecast | Friday, May 21st, 2021 - a mixed bag kind of day, an evening to be out and about, optimism, confidence, expansion and exaggeration

 

 

The Moon is moving through Virgo now - we are nurtured/nourished by being of service, by being organized/taking care of the day-to-day details, taking care of our pets and our health. 

 

She squares Mercury at 7:47AM EDT, opposes Neptune at 9:24AM EDT and goes void at 3:55PM EDT off a trine to a retrograde Pluto. She will be void until 9:35PM EDT when she moves into partnership/balance focused Libra, where she will trine the Sun at 11:46PM EDT. 

 

The square to Mercury could bring tension/a disagreement. Lots of information, conversation, errands maybe. There might be something here about doing something quickly/spitting it out or taking some time with it/doing it well. Maybe some information comes in that upsets the order of things. There can be a world of space between our thinking/ideas and the practical utilization of what we do with them. Then the Neptune oppositions can bring confusion/we might drift off course. We have this thing all organized (or want to) and then something/someone comes along and ... fill-in-the-blank. That trine to Pluto looks empowering though/intimate/a smooth ending to the work week. All's well that ends well?

The Libra Moon tonight gives us this month's Waxing Trine. Libra/Gemini. Air, so lots of communications and information. Good for socializing. Bringing things into balance with other people/restoring peace. 

Today is also the day, and we talked about this in the weekly HERE, the Sun squares Jupiter at 0 degrees. This is Gemini/Pisces. All mutable/changeable energy. This is optimistic/can be over-the-top, but the Virgo Moon should help stabilize it. We can feel more confident/lucky. Just keep in mind, we can easily overdo this one. Not all information that comes in will pan out as expected, don't count those chickens before they hatch/don't over-promise. 

 

Jupiter squares expand, but they also exaggerate. 

xo all

artwork by the talented Andra Watson

Mercury Squares Neptune | in play for the rest of the month - there's a lie here somewhere, breaking things down into smaller pieces, merging a certain irrationality and magic into our lives

 

Mercury (in Gemini) moves into his/her exact square with Neptune (in Pisces) on Saturday, May 22nd. This is in play now and because Mercury is going to station retrograde and walk these degrees two more times, this square (tension/frustration) is going to be in play for two to three weeks.

 

This is kind of like our left brain challenged by our right brain. 

 

With Mercury squaring Neptune it will be hard to be certain. Hard facts won't be quite so hard. Our thinking can be fuzzy/information confusing. Conversations can drift off track. Sleep might be tricky. 

 

Sometimes this can play out in very literal 3D ways, but there is also a whole other layer with Neptune that is obscured/back in the past. It's not so easy to decipher why we are triggered/responding/reacting the way we are.

The good news - both planets are strong in their home signs and this will alleviate some of the challenges, but not all the challenges and this is a long transit, so let's take a look at the potential pitfalls first and then we'll look at some ways through this and some of the potential opportunities here.

For the last two years Mercury has retrograded in Pisces creating major confusion. This year I was happy to see we were lucky enough to get him/her retrograding in Gemini (her own sign), but then realized he is at the degrees he/she will be squaring Neptune (Pisces ruler) anyway! 

 

When I see Mercury square Neptune, I think THERE IS A LIE HERE SOMEWHERE. As my grandmother would say "something is fishy in Denmark" or maybe she would say rotten, but I can't bring myself to write that about Denmark. 

 

Something, at best un-grounded or misguided and at worst deceptive is in play.

Usually this is about self-deception. Maybe there is something we gloss over and don't want to look at too closely because we know something we badly want to add up, just doesn't. We can retreat into fantasy if the 'facts' of the situation don't line up with our dreams. If we don't actually try to make our dream into reality, we can rest knowing it is at least possible, right? Alot of energy/potential can be drained through this. We might find criticism particularly challenging right now.

 

Or maybe the lie is a misunderstanding. We say one thing and someone hears something else, or we are the ones with the faulty hearing. This is a good time to be speaking clearly and making certain the other person is understanding us. Say it twice. Write it down. Spell it out. We don't want to be making assumptions. 

 

With our everyday perceptions colored by the yearnings of Neptune, it might be hard to separate mundane overtures/casual contact (Mercury/Gemini) from something more intimate. People/situations can be tricky to read. It's like one eye is wearing our magnifying-readers and the other our rose-colored glasses. Choices/decisions could get confusing. Because all the choices are not 'real' anyway, there could be something here about making our decisions by the process of elimination.

It will be important to break things down into manageable pieces and focus on the moving parts, because focusing on the whole will lead us down the fantastical path (imagining things both better or worse than they actually are or we get overwhelmed and things never get off the ground at all). There will be a need to integrate the connection/idealism of Neptune into our daily lives (art, theater, music, meditation, prayer, being in water can help with this), but we will have to take practical steps, too, or opportunities/the days will just drift away.

 

Keep in mind though, some of this drift is intended. 

 

If we needed to be sharp as a tack right now, we would be. 

When we have hard aspects from Mercury to Neptune we might find ourselves curled up in our left brain, not wanting to make a move until we have the 'right' answer. And I know I said in the weekly to slow down and not jump the gun (because this is a repeating aspect - a process, not so much because of the aspect itself). Once we start moving through this transit and understand what is happening here, we are going to be most successful by merging a certain unreasonableness/irrationality/the mystical (Neptune!) into our lives. When we do the 'dreamy stuff' rather than just imagining we are doing it or just talking about it - we start to activate miracles. 

So, as we move through the decisions of the next couple weeks, instead of asking ourselves, "what is the right thing to do?" and getting hung up on that, because this 'right thing to do' will not be obvious and we can sit here growing cobwebs and wide asses

 

 - we are going to have to work both sides of this thing and merge our dreams and our current circumstances. We can't ignore either one. We are going to have to ask ourselves which decision gets us closer to our long term dreams coming true. We don't have to think too big with this because remember we are breaking things down into the moving parts. There will be a decision - and some of this will be a process of elimination - that is better. And we will start to move toward that.

With Mercury/Neptune there will be opportunities to learn by osmosis. To pull the right word/idea right out of the air just when we need it. To talk to ghosts. To connect with our intuition/our pasts/our ancestors in very practical ways. We'll talk about this more as we move through it, for now Mercury (out of bounds, so doing whatever he wants) and Neptune (who kind of always does whatever he wants) are applying to this square, so it's in play.

 

Keep the idea of balancing these two energies in mind and treat life as if Mercury retrograde has already started - double check emails before hitting send, read the fine print, be as certain as you can that you are being understood, don't make assumptions, don't gossip, yada yada. We might be more tired. Need more rest. Neptune squares can bring water problems/infestations/lack of boundaries.

 

This will probably be strongest felt by Gemini and Virgo risings (since Mercury rules your charts), Pisces risings (can be more challenged by facts), people with natal Mercury/Neptune squares and people with planets and points near 20 degrees of the mutable signs. 

 

We will ALL be feeling this though and we'll talk about it more as we move through it, but I wanted to write a heads up because this is a big part of the upcoming Eclipse season and Mercury retrograde season. Picture yourself merging the two halves of your brain. 

 

Hope something here is helpful!

xo all

artwork by the amazing Silvio Porzionato