Clean Up on Aisle 6

kleangrips

"What does want not get?"

(you might have to say this out loud and drag out the 'get' part)

I overheard this last night while shopping in Target for a new bathroom rug.

The words were said so crisply and emphatically that even though I was lost in my thoughts (does a bathroom rug have to be a bathroom rug?) and minding my own business, it made itself my business and stopped me in my tracks. My sneakers actually squeaked to a stop on the cold tile floor and I never did get that new bathroom rug (or the six other things I would have probably thrown into my cart while I was there).

A mom (very tidy and put together looking) was wheeling her toddler through a space filled with "wants" - colorful things thoughtfully designed (most likely by others and then copied), hastily made and carefully arranged to make us want them.

The kid wasn't screaming or throwing a tantrum. I guess she had used a sentence with the words "I want ..." a few seconds earlier, but I only heard the mother. Her tone was firm, a bit sharp, a little tired. She caught my ear and then my eye. The child did not kick up a fuss. No drama ensued. She had heard it before.

For the rest of my shopping trip her words rolled around in my head. 

I saw the mother as a child hearing the same words with the same tone from her mother. I saw a woman who was disappointed by life and probably attempting to prevent her daughter from being hopeful and disappointed. I saw a child being methodically disabled from her ability to go after what she wants and maybe even know what she wants.

And you're probably thinking, "Cat, get a grip." But I'm telling you it was depressing.

It brought me back to all the times I had been told or had been shown I couldn't have what I wanted.

And all I wanted was that damn rug .....

Even though we've been told by law of attraction snake oil salesmen (apologies to Oprah) that wanting something is exactly how we get it (or step 1 at least) - I have never really believed this. 

I've always found it's when I stop wanting something, when I release my grip on the thought of having it, is when I attract it ... or when the allure of it floats out of my life, usually rather quickly.

The mom's words felt true to me (and excruciatingly hurtful) and so did the girl's shrinking heart. 

Who wants to live in a world where everything you see is something you can't have?

I think people and situations come to us to play out in front of us the energy we are carrying. We can literally look at everything in our lives as manifesting the energies we carry.

We carry this energy through our beliefs. Changing our beliefs is at the root of changing how things are working in our life. This is how good stuff takes us to more good stuff and bad stuff can lead us quickly to everything falling apart. Most of us are pretty freaking ready to fall apart. We've done it before. Sometimes it's more comfortable than getting what we want.

Sometimes we are so used to not getting what we want, or sending out such mixed messages, we don't even know what we want anymore.

We have Mars in Virgo now so we will not miss the tiniest detail. We've got Mercury (Virgo's ruler) in Libra (retrograde) so he is less inclined toward focused attention and more inclined to noticing the point where things overlap, the place where we connect. Jupiter (expansion, luck ie positive beliefs) is enabling us to tap into our best possible self and write a new story. Jupiter has the very best of magnificent intentions and we've got taskmaster Saturn answering to him now! What's to stop us? This is the time to clean the slate and start over.

Maybe all those old stories about why things happened, about how we messed it up (too quick, too slow, too loud, too quiet, too smart, too dumb) were really just a disconnect between our best intentions and life just not quite caught up with what we wanted to create. What if us not believing it was possible really was the only thing making it im-possible? We are that little girl in the shopping cart and we are her mother.

Today I'm chewing on:

1. wanting and hoping are good and wonderful and necessary things and can absolutely be untethered of outcome  2. we're all a bit of a mess even when we look tidy and 3. an old bathroom rug can be flipped over and look exactly like a new bathroom rug (maybe we can, too). xo all

Astrology Forecast for Creatives | Week of September 28th - rolling with changes as the fog rolls in

"So much has changed. And still, you are fortunate: the ideal burns in you like a fever. Or not like a fever, like a second heart." ... Louise Glück, October (Averno)

scarlet fall trees by joy st claire

Sunday night we have an Aries Full Moon lunar eclipse (or Monday, depending on where you live - see times here). This eclipse is the finale of a series of eclipses starting in April 2014. By mid-October everything will be alot clearer for all of us. See my eclipse post here.

This eclipse is in harmony with Saturn (in Sagittarius) so will ground us and provide stability and security - remember with Saturn we are playing the long game. He is father time after all and Rome wasn't built in a day. If changes do not feel good, we will roll with what is happening knowing it is needed to get us back on track and will pay dividends later especially in terms of our self respect. Expect eclipse energy to bring a bottleneck and then a release. 

Hold off making any big decisions until after Wednesday (at the least, mid October at the best).

The Full Moon will still be having its influence (the eclipse will be influential for five months) and we have Neptune inconjuncting the Sun and Mercury this week making things even more foggy.

There will be information coming at us this week, but it might turn out to be very different from its original version. 

We might hear what we want to hear, see what we want to see, you get the idea. 

Mercury retrograde will have us looking at something again and again - those second looks will be worthwhile. 

So ask the same question again, double check the details, double think what we are about to say, etc.

Much moves forward next week. If you have a chance to take a moment now and catch your breath - grab it.

Wednesday is the mid point Mercury retrograde date so whatever this retrograde has been bringing up for us will start to move toward its natural conclusion. If this stuff is hitting our personal chart we may receive some news or information or have one of Oprah's aha moments. 

Gossip may figure prominently for some - but remember we don't know what we don't know now.

This can be a week when everyone thinks they are right (including us). People will tell us what they think whether we want to hear it or not. Remember we are all burning Libra fuel now so honoring other people's views and balancing them with our own moves us all forward.

Last week John Boehner announced he is stepping down as Speaker of the House (an almost, but not quite, unprecedented move) - he quit the day after the Pope spoke to Congress.

People leaving and resigning from leadership positions will probably be in the news over the next two weeks and, really, thru mid November as our North Node (which has been in Libra and has had me talking about finding our flocks for the last two years) transitions into Virgo (yes, my flock talk is about to evolve).

For some reason I've always kind of liked Boehner (the crying pictures probably). He's a Catholic who grew up in blue collar Ohio with seven brothers and sisters in a two bedroom house and started working at age eight in his grandfather's bar. He still lives in the same area, although I assume much cushier surroundings. I hope he does something better with the rest of his life than just cash in as a lobbyist ....

Anyhoo, the Mars square Saturn energy that blocked us last week is over. Mars is in Virgo until November 8th and handing us our to-do lists now. Mercury is still retrograde for another two weeks, so stay flexible.

We have Vesta hanging out with the Sun which is very good energy for cleaning out the house, too. This cleaning can involve dust bunnies or grown up children or wayward boyfriends.

I'm finishing my Amazon Handmade set -up. What are you up to?

xo all

Full Moon Total Lunar Eclipse This Weekend | the blindspot or yes, what you don't know can hurt you

We have a total Lunar Eclipse Full Moon this weekend.

It's also a Blood Moon.

(yeah, that end of the world stuff - don't worry though, the world's not ending, maybe something about the world as you know it, but that could be a good thing, too - see my example below)

The Moon will be at 4 degrees Aries so see where this one falls in your natal chart (where is your Aries house and what does that house rule). Also look for any other 4 degree planets' houses to see where/how this action could show up.

This is a Full Moon so endings and wrap ups are likely.

I'd like to say the finished stuff stays finished but Mercury is retrograde, so maybe not. Most likely it will though.

This Moon will last for a little over 5 hours so its energy will be felt for a little over 5 months.

(and you may have already experienced it, yes, this stuff can hit one month early sometimes almost to the exact day)

I'll tell you how this has played out for me. 

Our side yard is the back yard of a gas station. Ugh, I know.

New mechanics rented the garage part last spring and the place, which has been quiet and almost empty for years, is suddenly crazy busy.

Now, on the one hand I like having prosperous neighbors and our side yard is wide and we do own a truck repair shop on the other end of town so understand the business, on the other hand the noise was getting worse every week and, of course, I'm home all day long. 

My breaking point (and actually Full Moons and eclipse season in particular are great harbingers of breaking points) came when they moved a noisy air compressor into a tiny wood shed behind their garage.

The air compressor was broken and ran all day, never shutting off the way it is supposed to. The shed got hot so they opened the shed door. The noise got even louder. From our backyard it sounded like they were cutting their grass along our fence line, all day long. I talked to them. Hubs talked to them. They'd nod their heads in agreement with us with cigarettes dangling precariously from their lips while pulling up the waistbands of their hanging trousers with tattooed fingers.

(you can't make this stuff up folks)

Nothing changed.

We talked to the town again and again. I was blasting Irish battle ballads and starting to crack.

Finally I called the Board of Health and they sent out a wonderful little pitbull woman, who sounded exactly like Penny Marshall. I really wanted her to help me and take this seriously. Kella was over my house with Sully and Sully (two years old now) really hates loud noises.

When Penny pulled up I grabbed Sully and pulled a bunch of my hair out of its ponytail, although I probably didn't need to look any more bedraggled than I always do.

We met Penny on the side porch. Sully immediately put his hands over his ears and said "LOUD."

(note to self- buy that kid a Porsche Power Wheels)

"This noise is interfering with our quality of life. Look at my baby!, " I wailed to Penny (actually I used the exact language I read online for fighting a noise disturbance).

Penny pulled a decibel meter out of her side holster like a cowboy at a gunfight and clocked the noise at 65 decibels at my property line. Unbelievably this was the legal limit - you will have to trust me about how loud 65 decibels is, especially day in and out when you work at home. She said she couldn't do anything legally but she would go over there and scare them. The garage is called Good Fellas Garage. I didn't think these guys would scare easily. They didn't.

Hubs told them he would fix the compressor and insulate the shed himself. Then he basically begged.

Finally, I happened to look at the September Lunar Eclipse and my chart. I realized this eclipse was at 4 degrees Aries and I have 4 degrees Cancer in my 4th house (home, family) and 4 degrees Uranus in my 10th house (career, business, social status) and this Eclipse was playing out natally in my 3rd house (neighbors!).

I told hubs this would be all wrapped up at the end of September. I went to sleep that night without thinking about these guys for the first time in weeks.

The next day, August 27th, exactly one month to the day of the eclipse, they fixed the compressor, insulated the shed and fixed the shed door.

Hubs would have been more impressed with the astrology if the situation had resolved this weekend along with the eclipse, and yes, there is still the possibility of a meteor landing on my home business and taking out the neighbors, too, but I'm just happy to have this resolved and I have seen eclipse cycles happen a month early before.

Anyhoo ...

Think about what is happening at a total lunar eclipse - something is hidden. 

This is not a good time to make a big decision because something is hidden. 

This is not a good time to make a big move because something is hidden. 

This could be a good time to bury the body (don't look at me) ... but I can't really recommend that (legal reasons and all). 

Unless the body is some 'body of work' you are finishing up - this is an excellent time for a wrap up. Just remember you won't be able to see everything that is going on with whatever is happening.

(in our situation the garage guys didn't own the compressor and were trying to get their landlord to fix it and our town had finally actually given them a deadline - we didn't know about any of the backdoor maneuvering and couldn't see what was actually going on and because of the energies at play it was bringing up, for me, other spaces and times when I felt injustice and the inability to get what I wanted from others making the whole situation larger than it had to be)

This is an especially powerful time to wrap up a fight (Aries south mode energy!) - yes, it's probably been worth fighting for, but it's time to move on now.

(maybe I'll bake those guys some cookies .... um, maybe not)

This can also play out (since we are talking about the Aries/Libra polarity here) as some kind of self interest vs cooperation or other person or group. This could be a commitment issue, fidelity, justice, loyalty, freedom - emotions are high during full moons. Stay grounded and cool headed.

This Full Moon wraps up that Aries New Moon from last April. Pray for clear skies so we can watch this one - here's the schedule.

Astrology Forecast for Creatives | Week of September 21st - Focus, Fire, Endings, Compassion, Uncertainty

hello fall by inspire your art

This is another wild ride kind of week with big emotions.

We are in eclipse season so things end, new chapters are started (usually in the dark) and things (good things, too!) are brought to light.

With Jupiter in Virgo until next Summer we have all this big picture thinking and planning ... and we still have to do the laundry and check the kids' homework.

Details aren't a distraction from our goals and dreams and it hurts us when we look at them that way - they are really clarifying what we want and how we want to spend our precious time. Anyone can have a dream, not everyone can do the laundry so the red towel doesn't turn everything else red.  

We get ahead by honoring the details this year.

It will show up for everyone in different ways but we are all dealing with weighty, ambitious stuff this week. 

Monday through Wednesday afternoon we have a serious Capricorn Moon. This is goal oriented energy and we can get a lot done now. Monday is the best day to reach out to an 'authority'. On Tuesday and Wednesday the energy is less smooth flowing - there are some kinks. If some tension comes up on Tuesday or Wednesday with our goals or an authority figure it will likely come back around at the end of the week.

We need to keep our commitments. We need to keep our insecurities in check.

On Wednesday the Sun moves into Libra! Libra season (and the fall equinox) is here. We all begin to burn Libra fuel. Grace, balance, beauty, partnership, cooperation - will make our world run much smoother. Big week for meeting new people (remember no one wants to listen to our bossiness now). New season energy will have all of us feeling like we want to do something! As we move from earth to air it's an easy time to catch a cold or something else so protect your throat and chest, wash your hands, switch from salads to soups, etc.

Mercury is retrograde so stuff happening now will be a little different than what we expected and will change when Mercury goes direct in October. Stay flexible.

Venus trines Uranus and inconjuncts Chiron (this is exact on Tuesday but can be felt building and waning) - if you have planets in fire signs (Aries, Leo, Sagittarius) or planets in Pisces from 17-22 degrees you will feel this transit and most likely felt it at the end of June and mid to late August. This energy is screaming at you to take a creative risk. Well, maybe screaming isn't the right word it could just be gnawing at you in your quiet moments like a toothache, but you'll know what I mean.

Yes, you can fall flat on your ass here. You can also deeply regret not even trying. If you shake yourself loose enough from needing to control the results (you can't) you might just manage some real healing here regardless of outcome.

At the end of the week Mars runs into Virgo and immediately bumps into a square with Saturn. This kind of feels like I want this, but I can't get it. Or we have to work harder or we hit delays. This is also a whole lot of fire (again my fire warning - be careful with actual flames now). People (including us) could be critical. Give other people their space. Take some deep breaths (I would recommend my soul scentered aromatherapy lockets for this).

(note to Virgos you haven't had a Mars boost in almost two years so use this seven week shot of initiating energy for all its worth - everyone gets extra energy for Virgo ruled things - work, pets, employees, co-workers, paperwork, HEALTH)

Thursday and Friday our new Libra Sun crosses over the North Node of Destiny -

The North Node is a space of collective discomfort. It's a place we are growing into, but we might rather go to the dentist or have a long talk with our mother-in-law over her homemade fruit cake about her son's amazingness and how lucky we are to have him.

The North Node pulls us out of our comfort zone and into a new version of ourselves.

this is like all of us being in the right place at the right time (note what show up and note what exits!). It can also release something (since we are now opposite our south node been there/done that energy) that is leaving our life. We need to trust the cycle.

On Friday we have a rehashing of that mid-week career/authority stuff. Stuff could get tense. Pluto has been retrograde since last March and with Pluto in Capricorn he is answering to Saturn (Capricorn's ruler) - he turns direct on Friday and since he was last looking ahead Saturn has changed signs (Scorpio to Sagittarius) so this changes things with Pluto energy, too.

Taken together there are a whole lot of transits that will be hitting a whole lot of charts with a whole lot of change. A whole lot of people's options just got limited. The good news - the path ahead gets clearer.

We have a huge lunar eclipse full moon next weekend which will be a separate blog post.  Zero cardinal (initiating energy) planets at this eclipse = one giant fresh start.

Last week big daddy Saturn moved from Scorpio into Sagittarius. I talked about this awhile ago, too. 

Part I is here.

Yes, that post is from December :) If you are going to read this new stuff, please read the old one first because it covers a lot of what I'm going to skip in this one.

(Saturn moved into Sagittarius in December then retrograded back into Scorpio and now, since last Thursday/Friday is fully housed in Sagittarius until December 2017 - Scorpios and Aquarius you can exhale now!)

Since I wrote that post nine months ago, my thinking about this transit has changed quite a bit. It's my new 'glass half full' outlook people! Let's unpack this transit a little differently. Instead of thinking about our beliefs hitting a brick wall - let's talk about dismantling our "limiting" beliefs, (ie the beliefs that are limiting us). Let's talk about stepping into and living up to new responsibilities in Sagittarius ruled areas and let's talk about how this transit illuminates our collective vision and moves along our collective story.

Sagittarius is a mutable sign (along with Gemini, Virgo and Pisces and this transit will affect mutable signs strongest so planets in these signs get tightened up). Mutable energy is rather boundless and stretchy. This can be a good thing. But it can also have its drawbacks. Too much space sounds like a good thing until we get it and don't know what the hell to do with it. Less options always equals more focus. More focus with less options is exactly what we get with Saturn in Sagittarius.

So we need boundaries, right? Sometimes we need to know this is as far as we can go. Or this is where we must concentrate our energy in order to succeed. People who do not see things this way at all may feel their goals and dreams are stifled during this transit or get kicked in the ass at some point. For dreamers that can embrace this way of thinking, Saturn will help us build the kind of stability that supports BIG THINGS. More on this later.

Remember this year our fall season is about planning (our harvest next year depends on it).

xo all