more fruitful directions ....

apple by basistka

A void and waning Moon makes today a good day for practiced, routine work especially with whatever is winding down. Better to stay busy now. Not a good day for major purchases - the void Virgo moon would probably make whatever we buy less useful than we expected.

Mercury (communications, mental activities) aspects Saturn (hard work, structure) and Uranus (unexpected) this week. We could receive some communication that shakes our foundation or line up with ideas that allow us to break new ground.

We will roll with whatever we can't control here.

The way forward this year is our collective North Node in Virgo - taking care of the details, taking care of ourselves. Our natal Virgo house is expanding. Saturn is in Sagittarius this year. Our natal Sagittarius house is where our feet are being held to the fire. Pisces season brings our attention to what we have been ignoring or denying - the ways we undermine what we know we want. It also frees up our imagination.

Boundaries are thin now. Keep that in mind with anything we are connecting with.

We are heading into next month's eclipse season which will shift energy and allow BIG changes for everyone. The stuff that is leaving/finishing up now creates a space for the new stuff to find us.

Mercury is in Aquarius and ripe with new ideas. They are like the apples on a tree ready for harvest. With Venus in Aquarius, too, our heads (Mercury)and hearts (Venus) can work together here as we choose which apples to take home with us.

(I'd recommend a nice cameo apple with homemade almond butter - delish)

Letting go of what we’ve been hoping for may be cause for celebration now as we finally accept there are more fruitful directions to move in. xo all

FULL MOON in Virgo | Monday, February 22nd | the opposite of addiction is not sobriety, the opposite of addiction is CONNECTION

moon's bride II by prismes

Monday's Full Moon is the culmination of the September Solar Eclipse New Moon. Here is a post about that with some key dates and themes.

The Full Moon is a time of completion. It's the space in our breath when our lungs are full. We can't take in anymore. We have to exhale.

Our Sun is in Pisces and our Moon is in the opposite sign of Virgo. This is the polarity of bringing the sacred (Pisces) into the everyday (Virgo), melding our physical health (Virgo) with our spiritual health (Pisces) and seeing the forest (Pisces) and the trees (Virgo).

In Virgo, the "release" energy could mark the end of our efforts on a health matter, work situation, something with paperwork, employees, co-workers or maybe a pet (all sixth house, Virgo ruled). We've reached a pinnacle and we finally achieve our goal with something here (maybe for all that Virgo hard work!), something comes through or breaks out (ends our striving), wraps up or just ends.

Endings around Full Moons are not always permanent (although they often are) - they are always situations though that have simply run their course ... there isn't an action we can take, or right words we can speak, to hang on to the things that are leaving us now.

With this year's Saturn/Neptune squares we are being shown what stands in the way of, or the difference between - what we want and what we have or where we are and where we want to be. Some are scapegoating the 'other'. Some are seeing what happens when we avoid the dentist for five years. Some are seeing how this dream of what 'could be' is interfering with our appreciation of 'what is'. There are different and multiple storylines for all of us, but the bottom line theme of reality vs our dreams or escape routes being road blocked, addiction vs connection, is something we will/are all working through.

The Full Moon is a time of something being 'brought to light'. With the Virgo/Pisces polarity and the Saturn/Neptune square this could be something about the way we anesthetize ourselves or the way we 'avoid'. This could be something about "victim consciousness" or "savior consciousness". Situation(s) will arise for us to clearly see the way we create the world we are living in.

Things don't happen to us and then we react. It only looks like this if we are not paying attention. We create what is happening.

I'll tell you how this "savior" thing is playing out for me.

Yesterday I start planning a small trip, a weekend across country, to visit a sibling. I was on airbnb looking for a place to stay and noticed some entire houses for rent that did not cost much more than the studio apartments/rooms I was looking at earlier. So, I spend the next 3 hours online making plans. I start turning my small trip into a weekend vacation at the coast for my sister's whole family. Even though this is all outside my budget for this trip and no one has asked me to do this. I get a wake up call from her grown daughter who tells me the house on an island with the 15 minute ferry ride "sounds kind of limiting". I'm slightly piqued she isn't excited about the weekend plans I am making, but I cancel the house and book the studio apartment in town for myself.

(those ungrateful son of a b--------, I grumble to myself)

A few hours later my other sibling tells me about a personal situation he is going through and I start mentally obsessing (and yes, googling) over this clearly "unfixable" happening that is his story and that needs to resolve itself in its own time. I am wishing he had shared this with me sooner (he is only telling me now because I invited him on my small trip). He is not looking for me to fix anything. And yet, I put this weight on my shoulders like a cable knit sweater.

By last night, my right shoulder, which had been feeling pretty good, was throbbing. I sit down to write this post and look at the chart for this Full Moon and see very clearly the "savior" complex I use to keep myself separated from other people and create situations where I get to "lose" and where I get to "avoid" my own stuff. I see how this is playing out in my third house of siblings (where my natal Mercury, Virgo's ruler, calls home).

This is how Full Moons work. Now that I see it, I can't "unsee" it. It's the elephant in the room. I can coax the elephant back into her dusty, neglected corner by distracting her with a bag of peanuts or I can thank her for showing up and allow myself the uncomfortable gift of unraveling her presence and letting her go.

This is an important two week period as we begin the count down to the next New Moon, New Year, Eclipse Season!

I will do a full week post later today. We have a Virgo Moon on Monday and Tuesday, so get organized and be productive. Great energy for dealing with the details!

Get out and walk in tonight's Full Moon - what is ripe for release in your own life?

Here is a great little video "everything we know about addiction is wrong" - very applicable to the energies at play here. xo all

Sun into Pisces | keep it honest

oceanborn 1 by eirian

The Sun moved into Pisces last night - the mutable water sign of mystics, empaths, dreamers, poets, escape artists and addicts.

It's the final sign of the zodiac, the sign of consciousness. Although often pictured as fish, Pisces is best represented by the ocean itself. A symbol of life and healing - the space where one thing flows into the next, until there is no 'next thing'. When we are lost at sea, there are literally limitless options as to where we can go - all directions are available to us.

(which is hell for the indecisive but invigorating when we remember we are here for the adventure!) 

Pisceans have the ability to comprehend almost anything (the downside is the ability to easily hook into stuff that isn't real). Certainty is a temporary state of mind for Pisces. Even the truth can get a bit stretchy. For grounding and to stay in touch with the ethereal energies that continually beckon to them - they really need to meditate daily (research shows coloring activates the same brain areas) - we are all burning Pisces fuel now, and so, especially if we find ourselves distracted, unfocused and forgetful we can use meditation to free up the space we need to remain effective and centered.

Ruled by Neptune, Pisces is the space in our natal chart where we heal, avoid, wallow, dissolve or transcend boundaries. Since Neptune came home to Pisces in 2012, we have all been a little less clear about what is real. We now have the Sun, Neptune, the South Node and Ceres in Pisces. Think of meditation as a requirement for life on planet Earth now - also hydration!

My multi-generational childhood home 'contained' four Pisces. Of course Pisces energy cannot really be contained. It washed over all of us and blended us all together - for better or worse. Three generations of Plutonian women have married Pisces men (I didn't).

Maybe it's Piscean openness helping to break down the fierce emotional defenses that Scorpio energy tends to erect and Scorpio providing much needed stability for the often chaotic/uncentered Piscean temperament. I have to think that through more, but it makes sense.

Anyhoo, Pisces season usually allows the dream to come into focus ... or go down the drain. Either way it opens us up to the new astrological year that kicks off next month with Aries. I notice, for me, Neptune energy (Neptune rules Pisces) and Pisces season often feels like I have returned to square one with whatever I am dealing with. With the Sun in Pisces our ability to force things is not as powerful. The more we struggle to stay on course, the more we drift toward the rocks. This doesn't mean we give up or go back to bed - it just means the best course will be with the current now - saving our strength for when the energy is best for challenging the prevailing tides .....

xo all

VENUS and our handmade business | doing everything as beautifully as we can - part I

"we have no art. we simply do everything as beautifully as we can" .... balinese saying

venus by ryan bater

Venus is the invisible force of attraction. She rules beauty, love, women and art. She rules the signs of Libra and Taurus, our second house of values (everything money can buy that matters to us and everything money can't) and our seventh house of marriage and partnership.

Venus transits emphasize our connection to what we are in relationship with. We fall in love. We fall out of love. We question our worth as well as the value of the things, people and places we spend our energy and resources on. And she makes us aware of those resources. Venus transits show us what really matters to us. Not what we give lip service to, but what we really need.

When we make things for a living - we need those things to be attractive. In an aesthetic sense (remember the opposite of aesthetic is anesthetic and we don't want our handmade offerings to put anyone to sleep!) - and also in the sense of "having the ability to attract".

We increase our ability to attract when we honor Venus.

We all carry the Venus archetype. Our makings do, too. I have come to believe we are the emissaries of the work we put out into the world. Not the other way around. The work has sent us here. We are required to do something for, and with, the stirrings of our heart.

Environmentalist John Seed, channeling his Venus, and working to save the rain forests says if he thought he were just one man, just one Seed (how wonderful his name is Seed, huh?), the vast needs and seeming hopelessness of his work would "feel overwhelming". 

Instead he sees himself as "the part of the rain forest that has evolved into a man."

He doesn't see himself as laboring alone even when he is laboring alone. He connects to the work that has sent him here (his Venus - the thing he loves). It's that connection that allows his work (and ours) to attract what it needs for as long as it needs to exist.

How can we liberate our creative energy? What wants to be created through us?

First and always, remember the Venus energy we carry wants needs to be honored.

We honor Venus when we do everything as beautifully as we can. When we move art from the periphery to the very center of whatever we are doing. The act of creation is a spiritual act that worships Venus. Our grandmothers instinctively knew this because this is how they spent their days - they made bread, they made sweaters, they made friends with their neighbors, they made a life with what they had.

We honor Venus when we are joyfully partnered with the things, people and places we love. Venus isn't the girl who settles. Venus is the space in our chart where settling will never work for us.

The house and sign she calls home in our natal chart is an indication of what we need and find attractive as well as clues to our own powers of attraction.

For example Venus in Gemini needs a mental connection and variety while Venus in Cancer needs an emotional connection and commitment. These are non-negotiables.

Venus asks us to focus society on culture rather than economy. For artists who have turned themselves and their makings inside out in an effort to focus on business instead of art (and trusting the work they are here to do to attract what the work needs) - Venus asks, "if artists become business people, who will be left to be artists?".

And this isn't because Venus is above making money - Venus rules money! Venus knows money flows where our passion does, too. 

We honor Venus when we honor what we value. I am rethinking this. The things we truly value, we naturally honor - one of the ways we know what is really important to us is that it will be the thing we spend the most time on.

What will we pay more for? What do we hang carefully on the padded hanger and what do we drop carelessly on the floor? If our money is crumpled into balls in the bottom of our handbag, is it really something we value? If our partner is valuable to us why don't we do the small things we are perfectly capable of doing and know will make them happy?

Sometimes a Venus transit wakes us up to what we value by bringing us close to losing it.

The Buddhists say the way we do one thing is the way we do everything. Venus would entice us to do everything beautifully.

We honor Venus when we honor ourselves. We honor Venus with simple things like long baths we don't have time for and complicated things like accepting the image of ourselves as "artists". We honor Venus with leisure time and yes, even what we might call "waste". If I didn't give myself the gift of a few hours every Friday night to play in my cluttered studio, I think I'd go mad.

Venus entices us to take another look at what we have blindly called "luxuries" and embrace them as necessities.

Venus is an inner planet and always connected (within 48 degrees) to our Sun (ego). She can drag us into vanity and self-possession turning love into manipulation and have us collecting chalk marks on our bed posts if we carry her into dysfunction. In her highest form though she balances out the masculine energy we carry - she literally soothes the savage breast. She brings us to peace.

I am an artist (and yes, I didn't always feel comfortable with this word and had to grow into using it!).

I am an Aquarius (the rebel, genius, criminal energy) Sun with a stellium (four planets) in Aquarius, and the questions I most naturally ask myself with my work are "is this different?",  "is this humane and sustainable?". My Venus (in my second house of values) asks "is this beautiful?", "can I make money with this?". My Venus (in Sagittarius) asks "will this make people happy?" "will this attract enough people to be worth bringing to market?", "how do I get this to the people who will love it?".

These are not great and noble questions, but simply the way my mind quickly works and I can answer them in about five seconds with anything I am thinking about doing. Sometimes a negative answer will stop me in my tracks. Other times, like with my astrology posts on this blog, my passion for the material is strong enough that nothing can stop me .... and I thank Venus. :)

Here is a Venus ritual from the amazing astrologer Caroline Casey (if you read the wonderful book Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, you might remember she referenced Caroline when she talked about 'trickster' energy, but she called Caroline a 'radio personality' - maybe she didn't want to use the term 'astrologer' in her book - ack!):

1. It’s best to perform this ritual on a Friday - which is Venus’ day. You’ll need a round piece of bread, a dinner roll will work. Make a hole in the bread and put a nickel or five pennies inside (the number five is sacred to Venus, Friday is 5th day of the week).
2. On a small piece of paper, clearly state your desire. Fold this paper and put it into the bread, on top of your nickel. Then pour a little honey on top to sweeten the deal!
3. Finally, place a small candle in the hole (bigger than a birthday candle, but smaller than a taper, Casey says yellow. I have used green). 
4. As the candle is burning, do something to honor Venus - take a bath, bake a cake and eat it, etc. Do something that makes you feel beautiful, prosperous and happy. 
5. When the candle is completely burned down, so that only the melted wax is on the bread, go to a stream or a river, but not salt water like the ocean. Toss this now ritually potent (and fully bio-degradable!) bread into the water, saying a prayer, poem, etc.
6. Venus energy will respond to our desires. She might fulfill our dreams in amazing ways. Or she might play the trickster, revealing a blind spot that still stands in the way of us attracting what we need.

Note - rituals are powerful and effective and carry the energy of all the previous rituals prepared in the same way. If you decide to do this one - use care and respect.

In Part II we will look at Venus in our natal and business charts!

Have a nice weekend! Long void Moon today so a good day for practiced, productive work. Expect glitches with anything out of the ordinary. Challenges now will highlight our comfort zone in some way - upsets, power plays, excitement, dealings with what and who is foreign to us, could disrupt and/or empower our need for emotional and/or home security. The Sun moves into Pisces - more on that next week!

xo all

Venus in Aquarius | our values shift

friends by x---blackstars

The stuff we value (love, money, what money can buy and what it can't) can morph now as Venus follows Mercury into Aquarius.

(that odd thing we couldn't get out of our head now wiggles its way into our heart)

We can attract and be attracted to something outside our comfort zone, not easily available or what is on the edge of what is acceptable.

Last month we combed our hair - maybe this month we comb it into a style that is different.

And at the least we will be drawn to those who do. 

Saturn (in Sagittarius) is opposed to our Gemini Moon today, so whatever is happening now could involve legal, educational, travel, political, wedding or media (ninth house Sag ruled stuff).

We have the fighting siblings exact today (Eris/Mars) - battle of equal and opposing energy. And we have a female energy trying to soothe things and it probably won't work. Sigh.

I'll tell you how this story is playing out for me.

There is a customer who owes hubs a lot of money. This doesn't happen often but it does happen a couple times a year. Usually we sit on this kind of thing for a bit. Usually we eventually get paid. Once in a while we don't. We've been sitting now for four months.

I'm seeing an attorney today (a female attorney actually). I usher in Venus in Aquarius - the clear headed woman who can take a detached approach to the situation - even while I can see astrologically this will not be a quick or certain fix.

Tomorrow, Mars (action, initiative, war) begins the path he will retrace two more times during his upcoming retrograde so I am going into this knowing I might be dealing with this situation for months. Being someone who prefers the path of least resistance, but also someone who prefers to be paid for services rendered and also someone who doesn't sleep well when dealing with crap like this - I am determined that putting the situation in the hands of someone else is the best way to handle this.

Under normal circumstances I would be that detached female energy (Aquarius Sun but with Venus in my 2nd house of love and money, not so easy to detach myself in these areas), but this time feel it best for my peace of mind and physical health to bring in a surrogate (since I see the potential for something lengthy to be unfolding here). I am valuing my peace of mind and health over the money we will pay for outside help.

(which probably sounds like common sense to most people anyway, but I am not so certain the outside help will change the eventual outcome here - I am certain though that changing the way I normally handle things, will change me, and this, the evolution thing, is the entire point of life on planet Earth after all)

This is one of the best uses of astrology - seeing enough of what's ahead to tweak the picture a bit.

Another great day for production and communication!

xo all

Astrology Forecast for Creatives | Week of February 15th Part I - a strange and unusual attraction

c-i-s-m- by nylon juvenile

This week we are in the waxing (growing) Moon phase without having Mercury covering old ground - this is great energy to get stuff done and move ahead with our plans.

The Moon goes into Gemini early MONDAY morning. This supports communications, agreements, sales and talks - we can get the ball rolling now. Mercury is in Aquarius so be sure we are writing down our innovative ideas - their pace will be fast and furious and they can fly out of our heads as quickly as they fly in!

Mars in Scorpio is sextiling the North Node in Virgo and trining the South Node in Pisces (22 degrees Virgo and Pisces).

The South Node is the going bye-bye stuff we are releasing. Trines take the brakes off and Mars in Scorpio could help the ending be quick and painless by focusing us on that North Node sextile (ie the opportunity and in Virgo - our path of service).

This is a sextile between negative elements (yin) - Earth and Water - so we will need to take action to create the opportunity (as opposed to it falling in our lap, although it can certainly have been created by our past actions).

The bottom line with this energy - there is no stopping the stuff that is leaving (our work with it is finished) BUT there is a BIG old opportunity somewhere if we just change the direction we are looking. Take action on the new (and your Virgo house - 22 degrees).

Take business cards, introduce yourself, make that call.

Mars is entering his shadow later this week so whatever we start then we will be working with (our natal Scorpio 23 degrees thru Sagittarius 8 degrees) until August. 

(this will also re-visit the Saturn in Scorpio transit of 2012 thru 2015- we'll deal with it - we are older and wiser now!)

If we have something we can wrap up now so we are not dragging it through the spring and summer with us, wrap it up. Pay attention to what starts this week and know whatever it is, it will be a process.

Remember the energy now can make us unusually effective so let's be sure we are focused in the right direction - we don't want to get what we think we want and then realize we don't really want it.

On TUESDAY the communicative Gemini Moon continues - let's not get overly chatty now or let our minds wander all over the place. Venus makes her move into future-oriented Aquarius. Aquarian Suns and ascendants get more attractive (good time for a haircut or makeover Aquarius!). We are all more able to attract what we want by being more detached from the outcome, more humanitarian - more out of the box. Think rebel, genius, criminal here!

Venus rules love, our relationships, money, our values, women and beauty. The way we work with all these things will benefit from Aquarian's ability to consider new perspectives. Think re-invention. We will all be attracted to the strange and unusual now - which can be a good or not so good thing - just keep this in mind.

There is the potential for some melt-down sibling (equals) rivalry type stuff this week (we'll see this play out politically) - use Aquarius to keep a cool head. This is an old story. This will require some time - some things can't just be fixed.

Melt downs need to melt (and it's still pretty cold outside).  

Keep in mind February and early March, in many ways, is the calm before the storm. When we are tired we should rest. When we are inspired (and we will be!) we should move. Get organized and get into a healthy, balanced routine

(this year of Jupiter in Virgo - ruling our daily habits - can truly aid us in sticking with the stuff we start, especially when it comes to our health and work habits)

 - next month this t-square will strengthen and we will be very, very busy and it won't let up until the end of summer - so get the plans and structures in place now to stay healthy and organized when however this will play out for you personally hits the fan!

Back later with the rest of the week. xo all

Mercury Covering New Ground In Aquarius | decision time

attitude by ntscha

Mercury moved into Aquarius on January 1st, but almost immediately stationed and retrograded back into Capricorn where he retraced his December steps. Then a couple weeks ago he stationed again and started moving forward, yes, retracing those same steps for the 3rd time (two steps forward, one step back). It is only this weekend that he actually starts covering new territory!

We will notice.

We can make decisions now regarding our goals, career, authority and responsibility issues (and your Capricorn natal house issues!). We've been going back and forth over this stuff for weeks. We know everything we need to know. Now we just have to decide. With choices and connections consciously made, there is no need for regret no matter the outcome. This is long term planning decisions and clarity on the rules we will have to play by to get what we want. If we don't get clarity right out of the gates, I can't imagine we won't be clear by the Full Moon on the 22nd.

With that energy behind us, Aquarius in Mercury (communication, information) will focus us on something new and freeing and maybe concerning the group. Expect news and invitations to offer us opportunities to work with this energy.

Aquarian energy is fixed and detached. Let's take a step back and look at the whole picture before firing off an email or communication now. Let's not take things personally. This transit supports our decisions (which might be rather inflexible now) as long as we can detach from our happiness depending on a specific outcome.

Freedom loving Aquarian energy does not work well when entangled ie caught up in deluded beliefs, reckless actions or a compulsion to rewrite history or control the future.

(and yes most Aquarius suns are major control freaks!)

With Aquarian detachment we can recognize what is not ours and not take it on.

Sometimes other people's problems are not ours to solve. Sometimes challenging/bad things happen to us that are not our responsibility. Simply encountering obstacles does not mean it is our job to remove them. Making progress is not the same as removing obstacles - sometimes we can shift, dis-entangled, and keep going.

It's time to put the whole January shit show (pardon my French) behind us and move on. If we haven't solved it by now, it's probably not our job anyway ....

Mars Sextile Jupiter - jump on THIS

jump by poop-art

We have Jupiter

(the planet of expansion, vitality, confidence and faith - all the stuff that brings us good luck if we were to believe in such things - and I do, actually)

cozying up to the North Node of our collective fate/future/destiny this month.

This is happening in the un-cozyest (and yes, since this isn't really a word I can spell it like this) of signs - detail oriented Virgo - where Jupiter isn't super um ... well, cozy. But that's ok. Sometimes cozy is over-rated. Sometimes attention to the details is what makes life cozy actually. And yes, when I say sometimes I mean now.

This transit is helping us line up with our best possible future.

It's like we are at the train station and there's a train leaving for Newark and a train leaving for Hawaii and every thought we think, every decision we make, every action we take, is moving us, step by step, into one of these station lines ... and right now, this moment, we are still in the space where we can go either way. We haven't bought the ticket yet.

There will come a time when, ticket in hand, we will just have to get on our train (dance with the one who brung us so to speak - and yes, same rule applies to "brung" as "uncoziest") and venture forward to Hawaii .... or Newark.

(and I live in New Jersey and it's snowing and you know which line I want to be in)

Of course, things aren't really this dire, because there are unlimited trains for every destination between these two places and there will be opportunities later to hop trains, although that can be dicey, we don't want to lose a leg or anything. You can see what I mean with this. We want to be moving toward the right line now.

As I write this, the planet Mars (drive, initiative, action, will, courage) is building toward a sextile (supportive opportunity) with Jupiter. This aspect is exact on Sunday but will be active all this week and next.

The actions we take during this Mars sextile Jupiter transit can have a bigger impact on our life than the actions we take at other times. Being that Jupiter is well, Jupiter after all, and most especially because he is hanging out with the North Node. Doors that open now won't lead us into a broom closet. Doors that open now will lead us to opportunities for learning and growth and, dare I say - happiness. 

We need to jump on this. We will probably need to pull that door open ourselves. If we are sitting around watching Walking Dead marathons (yes, I know we have to get caught up for the new season) we could miss this. With masculine Mars energy we have to take the initiative. We have to be a warrior. Mars isn't Venus where we attract what we want. Mars has to go and get it.

Now remember this is coming through our Virgo house (check your natal chart) and if you are a Virgo rising (ascendant) we are talking about your whole life and if you are a Virgo Sun we are talking about what fuels your whole life, so the same thing basically.

This isn't "out of the blue" stuff. Mars isn't Uranus. This is us taking action on our dreams and that action (think like a Virgo here - what needs to be done? and how can we do it well?) getting us lined up where we need to be to get what we want. Mars is the energy that gets us what we want. Virgo is the way/space we make this happen. Jupiter is the faith in ourselves and our dreams that lines us up with our "good luck".

Those with natal (and progressed) planets and points between 18 and 24 degrees of earth signs (Taurus, Capricorn, Virgo) or water signs (Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces) will be most directly affected but the energy is available to all of us to make an impact on our future now.

The Moon is waxing (growing). Mars is in Scorpio so we know what we want. Mercury is out of his shadow on Sunday, too. And Mercury and Venus are moving into forward thinking and forward moving Aquarius.

How do we want our future to look? What steps can we take, right now, to make that future happen?!

xo all

Note - the fly in the ointment and you know there is always a fly in there no matter how carefully and quickly we close the damn door - is that although sextiles are supportive they can sometimes seem to bring unwelcome situations - it's really stuff we are already lined up with so closely there is no getting out of the way. When this is the case though whatever happens is something we will be able to move through quicker and easier than we anticipated.

Astrology Forecast for Creatives | Monday, February 8th | a new view of what drives us ... and makes us angry

"so I stopped talking about it. there's no need to talk because the truth of what one says lies in what one does." ... bernard schlink - the reader

alone by zhoya

I didn't get the chance to do a weekly post yesterday, so we'll try a few dailys and see how that goes.

We begin this week with a New Moon in Aquarius. This is the time of the month when the Sun and Moon are joined together at the same degree of the same sign. As always New Moons are excellent times to plant seeds with our intentions - these seeds will ripen by the Aquarius Full Moon in August.

See my post about the New Moon.

The focus here will be on our flock, the causes we care about and how free we are to do the things we want to do... also your natal Aquarius house (19 degrees).

New Moons and particularly the two weeks that follow them are initiatory energy.

Stuff starts.

Of course, for stuff to start, other stuff has to end.

The energy here is supporting the fresh start, so a focus on that part (which can be challenging depending on just what is ending and how invested we are in keeping it intact) moves us forward.

What house holds 19 degrees Aquarius in your natal and progressed charts?

In the angular houses, New Moons work more obviously. They call us to action - these are houses 1,4,7 and 10.

Houses 2,5,8 and 11 are our succedent houses (they succeed, ie follow, the angular houses). They stabilize. A New Moon here will require us to work a little harder and look a little closer to identify the New Moon's opportunity. It's there.

Cadent houses are houses 3,6,9 and 12. A New Moon here requires an adjustment. We are often required to learn something. Preceding the angular houses - this is the thought before we take action.

This New Moon has a wonderful sextile (opportunity) to Uranus (in Aries). This is the 'new thing' that will require some action on our part. It looks good.

Mars is a power player at this New Moon.

The Moon is square Mars, so is the Sun. Squares present tension and frustration. Mars is in powerful Scorpio where he is co-ruler. Mars indicates anger, motivation or drive being activated. With the Sun and Moon in egalitarian Aquarius, tension could come if someone (or we) tries to rule instead of cooperate.

The things we get angry at now will have a higher message for us.

When we get pissed off - and we will - we'll think "ooh, the Sun is showing me my unhealed Mars".

(animals, nature and water are great healers for Mars tension and anger, also EFT - see Cheryl Richardson's video here and most healing of all, by rebuilding what we have destroyed)

With Aquarius we are asked to take a higher view even as Mars in Scorpio plunges us down deep.  This is great energy to break through something that is resistant. Let's keep a cool head and stay steady over the next few days. Mars in Scorpio understands that power comes through us and not from us.

Tomorrow Mars trines (brakes off) Chiron (healing, wounding). Mars rules early, early childhood. Some fear or pain from then can/will be healed now .....

Set your New Moon intentions - YAY! FRESH START! - you know the drill!

AFFIRMATION TIPS: get into a happy frame of mind - always make affirmations from a  positive place (positive meaning both happy and certain) - write your affirmations down by hand in script,  speak them out loud - I always write my affirmations on strips of paper. This month maybe we'll burn them and release the ashes into the cool Aquarian air. Then release your attention from them knowing that your intention is known.  

Know these things are already yours. xo all

Ooh also, the Chinese Year of the Red (fire) Monkey kicks off today. I don't know much about Chinese astrology, but a fire monkey year sounds like a fast moving year with lots of chatter - which sounds about right. Back tomorrow.

New Moon in Aquarius on Monday | the answers will be found outside the box

out of our minds by jayelless

Monday's New Moon will be at 19 degrees Aquarius.

(FYI Aquarius rules friendship - they'll come in handy now -  Facebook is calling today Friendship Day - although I remember doing a giveaway for that once in the summer. I guess I was either way ahead of everyone else or way behind. I do like the idea of it during Aquarius season though so I'll go with Facebook on this one)

The lunar cycle (Capricorn) that is ending Sunday began with a conjunction to Pluto and included a retrograde Mercury's conjunction to Pluto and then direct station there. Pluto is the planet of death, destruction and obsession. This is pretty good energy to break our world into the sort of tiny little pieces that faced the king's men and their horses after the fall of Humpty Dumpty.

(I always wondered how the horses factored into this tale)

We were all tossed into whatever personal narrative this lengthy Pluto in Capricorn transit is stirring up in our lives. Many people are dealing with financial and job security concerns pretty intensely.

Remember we are all working through the Pluto in Capricorn transit - the collapse of corrupt and unsustainable structures. This transit isn't just something we are all dealing with collectively - this is energy we are all dealing with in our personal lives, too.

The collective story affects us individually just as the way we handle our personal stories affects the outcome of the collective story! We really are that powerful.

Yes, what you do affects me and what I do affects you.

(and you should probably thank me for all this God awful gut healing bone broth I've been drinking - ack!)

By the end of this week we'll all have received any Plutonian marching orders and reality checks loud and clear. 

Capricorn seasons are never easy but have been particularly harsh the last few years since Pluto moved in (we are at pretty much the midpoint of a 15-16 year cycle). We will all have to work with this energy at times.

Monday's New Moon squaring Mars in Scorpio (and Mars will be retrograde in Scorpio for many months this year) tells us that although we are entering a new lunar cycle we can't simply side step everything that has happened or throw pink paint over our problems and pretend they don't exist.

Carrying the energy of whatever reality these last few weeks have unearthed / bombed us with - even when it's uncomfortable and maybe especially when it's uncomfortable - helps ensure that our future plans and actions are more grounded and have less chance of falling apart later.

(remember this year's primary energy is the Saturn Neptune square that is testing our dreams - there will be obstacles!)

Aquarius/Scorpio is pretty much exactly the energy needed to push us out of a rut. This is 'outsider' energy where doing things differently might be just the ticket as long as we are prepared for things to veer off in whatever direction this energy takes. We could take things too far with this and get hurt or hurt someone else, so let's not do that, ok?

(remember for most of this year Jupiter is in Virgo - precise, measured steps get us where we need to go - also everyone needs to be prioritizing their health and physical bodies now - inflammation issues will require very clean diets this year - good health coaches will clean up)

This New Moon cycle takes us into eclipse season where anything can happen! I'll post more about this in the weekly on Monday, but for those dealing with this month's muck know that lighter energies are ahead of us.

The dense energies will start to lift as more planets move into Aquarius and she brings her kind of unique electricity and leaps in thinking into the mix.

The answers will be found outside the box.

xo all

Astrology Forecast for Creatives | Week of February 1st - lots of push to get things done

a little push by stephanie dan

Busy, fast moving week. Lots of "push" to get things done and by "done", I mean finished. The Moon is waning - whatever needs to go out the door, needs to go out the door.

We start the week with a Scorpio Moon and in the aftermath of the clashes Mercury dealt (is that a word?) with this past weekend maybe some important information came through. Maybe more information just muddies our thinking. Maybe we get a breakthrough. Either way it's a good day to go within and think about our personal evolution since Mercury entered his shadow in mid December.

On Tuesday the Moon moves into lighter and more visionary Sagittarius until Thursday. Lots of busy productive energy. Time will fly, so stay focused on one thing at a time and see it through or nothing will get done. The Moon is void all day Thursday so not a good time to start anything we don't want to fizzle out. The good news - any crisis that crop up then will be a waste of time and worry and not come to anything.

Tuesday is also Brigid's Day (more commonly in the U.S. called Groundhog Day) - the midpoint between winter and spring - although the exact midpoint is 15 degrees Aquarius, and since this is my natal Sun degree - I will celebrate on the 4th when the Sun hits 15 degrees Aquarius - more on this later. Light a yellow candle. Let's be thankful for our progress since the Winter Solstice.

Mid week, we have Mars (still in Scorpio, get used to that) sextiling Pluto (ruler of Mars and currently housed in Capricorn). Also Mercury is sextiling Chiron in Pisces. This could be a good time to give a voice to what hurts and to take effective action. The Sun (in freedom loving Aquarius) also sextiles stodgy Saturn (in big picture freedom loving Sagittarius) so movements toward FREEDOM are getting the universal GREEN LIGHT. This won't remove all obstacles and sextiles require some kind of action on our part - it's like a door cracks open - it's our choice what, if anything, we do with it - it's still some good, positive energy.

At the end of the week Venus conjuncts Pluto (in Capricorn) and then squares Uranus (in Aries). Let's do something we are passionate about. Venus themes - our values, art, money, women - get intense. We will know what we want and what we want might upset some apple carts. Women won't be taking any crap. Maybe something in the collective around women will surface the way the issue about the lack of African American nominees at the Oscars hit a couple weeks ago.

Back in a day or two. For the big picture remember we are working through BIG collective energies that are shifting everything - if our ground doesn't feel shaky, we are probably not standing up.

NOTE - remember I write about aspects when they are exact - they are often (other than the Moons) very near exact for days before and after and you might feel them and be working through them then. xo all

Ceres into Pisces | the mother bear losing her grip

mother bear by alexis photo art

Ceres (nurturing, loss, mother/child, food) moves into Pisces today. As she moves through Pisces thru mid April and as she aspects planets and angles in our natal chart her themes will be triggered for us.

I don't talk about Ceres much (this being a business blog and all - wink). Ceres is the dwarf planet between Mars and Jupiter. You are probably familiar with her story.

Ceres (known to the Greeks as Demeter) is the mother - the provider, the nurturer - the goddess archetype of spring. Ceres represents the part of our nature that longs to give birth and then nourish and sustain new life. She represents the essential bonding or lack of that occurs between mother and child. She is the impulse to nurture and also to be nurtured by others.

Ceres's daughter, Persephone, was abducted by Pluto, lord of the underworld. The grieving mother, Ceres wandered the earth in search of her missing child.

In her grief, depression and anger, she caused a famine, withholding nourishment from the world until her daughter was returned. Persephone meanwhile had eaten pomegranate seeds, a symbol of sexual awareness, which gave Pluto a claim over her so she could not be returned permanently to her mother.

A deal was reached so Persephone would spend part of each year in the underworld with Pluto caring for the souls of the dead, but each spring would be reunited with her mother in the upper world as she initiated the dead into the rites of rebirth (spring).

Ceres in our chart alerts us to any challenges with nurturing and directs us to the 
kinds of experience we need to feel unconditionally loved and accepted.

In Pisces, happenings around nurturing and loss will be emotional now. 

Hanging on to things in Pisces is like trying to hold water - it slips through our fingers. Children are meant to grow up and leave us. Our creative children are meant to leave us, too. 

If you are the type of mama bear who likes to be in control, things ruled by Ceres may feel a bit "slippery" over the next few weeks.

This is a wonderful time though, to dream the BIG and magical dream for the things and people we 'mother', yes, including ourselves.

Check your natal Pisces house - is there something there that is dissolving? something you need to gently release? or maybe something that needs more nurturing? xo all

Chiron on the South Node | Jupiter on the North Node - fate and free will

future tv by a7md3mad

I believe our birth charts are our contracts. They are the imprint of that moment we took our first breath - we literally are the universe at exactly that second (and we carry that energy for all of us our entire lives).

So, maybe there are some things we have set up already and just have to live out, maybe some things we are going to encounter and deal with this go round are just not up to us anymore.

That's the "fate" part - it may be out of our hands now.

(although I believe we set that part up, too, or at least our past actions did)

Then the "free will" part comes in. This part is much more important. It is always up to us how we react and process things, the actions we take, what we do with the situations we face, the way we release things, etc.

Some birth charts have a couple major themes, in other charts there is more going on as if we wanted to get a lot covered while we are here; to burn through a lot of old stuff.

When people suddenly appear to "lose it all" or life takes a total turn, often you can find in that person's chart a kind of integrated life - it's as if they decided OK when I am done with this (ie learned or experienced what I came into that experience to learn) move me right on to that.

Of course, the person living through this may think their life has just fallen apart. And it has actually. But it doesn't mean they don't get a new life.

I was in banking for 10 years. I started as a bank teller and left a decade later as a vice president. I had been a head teller, assistant manager, branch manager and managed both a lending department and a retail telephone banking department. It seems about as far from my life now as I could possibly imagine.

I have lots of stuff in my birth chart to make this early life possible. Scorpio rising means my chart is co-ruled by Mars (action) and Pluto (banking). My Moon (nurturing) is in my 8th house (other people's money). Saturn sits within 1 degree of my 3rd house Sun making me quite serious quite early on and able to present myself (communicate) as older and "in charge". My South Node (past life energy/comfort zone) is in Capricorn (business).

Then along came my Saturn return and life took a hard left. My North Node (future) in Cancer (mother, nurturing) was activated. I lost my job. My 'mother' became very ill and moved in with us. My daughter was kind of running amok (she denies she ever gave us any trouble) and needed me to mother her in a new way. Almost overnight my entire life seemed to revolve around the word "mother".

Fate has a way of pulling, pushing and drop kicking us exactly where we need to be. What we do once we get there is up to us. It isn't always a hard left, sometimes it's just a tiny little shift right that makes all the difference.

For the rest of this month we have Chiron (healer) connecting with our collective South Node (past, comfort zone) and Jupiter (expansion) connecting with our North Node (future).

Life asks us to stop repeating by tempting us to repeat.

Check your natal chart for anything within 5 degrees of 14 degrees Capricorn (or Aries, Cancer, Libra) - that's where this current transit is offering up the fate .... what are we going to do this time?

Jupiter is in Virgo so we practically, helpfully, patiently collect the information and ideas and details we had overlooked before. We use those missed opportunities to craft something else.

Astrology Forecast for Creatives | Week of January 25th - we're moving forward

winter walk by cirtus frukt

Mercury (in Capricorn) stations direct on Monday evening and we can finally begin to move forward with whatever has been holding us back since January 5th.

(Do I hear a Hallelujah?!)

People who have been awol will suddenly reappear. Calls and emails get returned. Situations that have been dead in the water (including New Year's resolutions) will suddenly begin to show signs of life. Maybe the delays of this past month start to make some sense. Maybe not. Either way we start to get unstuck.

There might still be some glitches early in the week as the energy shifts forward, but for the most part the Mercury retrograde delays are behind us (Mercury doesn't truly get to new territory until Valentine's Day when he gets back to Aquarius) and the stuff Capricorn rules - authority figures, business, goals, career - and our Capricorn natal house aided by attractive Venus will be "all - or most - systems full steam ahead".

The other big aspects this week are (1) Mercury squaring Uranus and conjuncting Pluto at the end of the week (Friday and Saturday) - this is the 3rd time we've had this aspect since December 19th and 20th, so something set into motion then winds up. Maybe 3rd time is the charm. It could be a communication, some information or a decision made now ends something or removes some obstacle that allows us to move on.

EXAMPLE for Aries - (Sun in whole house astrology or rising) - Mercury in your 10th house of career joins Pluto and squares Uranus (in Aries) - this is about big changes in a professional or public situation. There could be a final decision regarding a career matter or maybe an out of the blue announcement. Any delays with career and authority figures will end now.

(2) Jupiter retrograde (in Virgo) makes his second exact conjunction with the North Node of our collective destiny. This entire week we have the opportunity for fated connections to our future. This is also big energy for endings - hopefully we don't lose another rock star!

EXAMPLE for Taurus (Sun in whole house astrology or rising) a retrograde Jupiter connects with the North Node in your 5th house of creativity, children and romantic love. This is a push to develop something in one of these areas (just like last week!). This is about what you want - just work with Virgo - details, organization, small steps, careful adjustments. Combine this with Mercury lighting up your 11th house of hopes and dreams (and friends) and it’s looking good!

MONDAY - void Moon in Leo - good day to play in the snow, good day for creative work & production TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY - Moon moves into Virgo - organization feels good. If Monday was a snow day this is a perfect Moon to get back to work. It's good energy to get our acts together with Virgo stuff - health, paperwork, employees, co-workers, pets, habits. THURSDAY & FRIDAY - Moon moves into Libra - emotional stability comes through partnerships, relating to someone as an equal, seeking balance or justice. Aspects with Pluto could have us focused on Pluto themes - other people's money, debts, taxes, sex, death, birth. Endings could make the end of the week a bit stressy.

xo all - back Tuesday or Wednesday with some big picture 2016 stuff!

FULL MOON in Leo | we're us, but we're not

nothing beats a lion by lionique

Think about what a Full Moon looks like - it's the brightest moon; a completely lit circle. There is nothing obscured in the shadows, everything is visible.

During the full moon, something comes to light. 

Every Full Moon in January is called the Wolf Moon, probably after the wolf packs that howled hungrily outside Native American villages amid the cold and deep snows of midwinter.

(and by this time of year our ancestors provisions were running low and their tummies were rumbling, too - this is built into our DNA - we are hungering for something, too, now).

Our Sun is in Aquarius so we know the Full Moon is in Aquarius's polarity sign of Leo the lion. Both the Sun and Moon will be at 3 degrees so this is the space in your natal chart (3 degrees Leo, 3 degrees Aquarius) ripe for illumination.

With any Leo Moon generosity pays off and feels really good - we'll give the other person the benefit of the doubt, an extra big tip, a hand shoveling out, our brightest smile (an old man just smiled at me and totally turned my day around, I need to smile more), the keys to our car

 - maybe not our actual car, but the keys are a good first step or maybe a keychain, yeah we'll give them a keychain - you can get one HERE, even lions take baby steps sometimes - although I think it's stealthy baby steps toward their prey, but you get the idea.

Leo rules the 5th house of creativity and fun. If you are not snowed in today - it would still be a good time to pretend you are. And if you are snowed in, just remember although Netflix marathons can be great, they are a waste of this Full Moon energy when we should be creating our own stories! Give yourself the gift of some creative time now. The Full Moon is our peak energy of the monthly cycle - use it or lose it.

With the Leo/Aquarius polarity and all this Capricorn energy this is about our personal ambition and our devotion to our "flock". It's not about giving ourselves up to the group, but about remaining ourselves within a group setting while integrating. We're us, but we're not. We're them, but we're different.

During this Full Moon we have Mercury retrograde's journey through the waning Pluto/Uranus square bringing maybe some discord and discomfort to what is revealed. The Moon is inconjunct Venus in Capricorn so maybe we don't get exactly what we want with this (although something worth celebrating could certainly be uncovered now, too!) AND remember we have lucky and expansive Jupiter conjunct the North Node of our collective fate reminding us that things are falling into place in our Virgo house RIGHT NOW.

Somewhere among all this chatter is our soul mission, quietly waiting to be discovered.

All we have to do is right in front of us. What gifts and opportunities have we been given? How can we make the most of them? Our Capricorn houses get busy, busy, busy. xo all

Mercury stations on Pluto | January 22nd - stock up on ice cream

lucy in the sky by elif karakoc

Today, as Mercury stations and prepares to move direct he lands right on top of Pluto (in Capricorn) and squares Uranus (in Aries).

(imagine we move our finger through a flame and halfway through we stop and turn around - that space where we slow to a stop and start to reverse - well that space would be pretty intense, it might even necessitate an immediate ice cube and some ice cream later, chocolate chip mint, of course)

And we face our first storm of 2016.

(and with perfect synchronicity one third of the United States is preparing for a blizzard - stock up on ice cream, yes ice cream, when your power goes out and you have no way to heat the hot cocoa you ran out at the last minute and bought - I will be devouring the ice cream I have stockpiled on my front porch and snickering at you through my chattering teeth - yes, in a blizzard I'm like that, I will share if you're nice though)

It may have started for you last week or last month, but it's really been coming for years. We move through the end of the Mercury retrograde which has been happening within the chaotic Uranus/Pluto square and reactivating that.

This could be some shocking news that is probably unwanted.

Something Capricornian and security focused maybe - a change we don't want to make.

Fixed energy. A long term plan is needed even if revisions will be required later. Maybe some technological or cosmic breakthrough. Possible power struggles, lies, intimidation, hmm .... . it also gives us the ability to drill down deep and focus. Mars in Scorpio - secret motives and actions are possible. Shock and awe.

Brilliance is out there. Cue Uranus.

As Mercury (consciousness) passes over Pluto (karma, soul) expect to feel a pull toward something else (Uranus). This weekend's Full Moon in Leo (ego) will illuminate what we need to see (post tomorrow).

Remember that although we are on the brink of something wonderful - our ancestral DNA is registering the danger of change and leaving all of us edgy and worn out. When something drains our energy it is natural to want to sort it out ourselves - definitively and right away. However, often for a situation to be cured, we first need to disentangle from our urge to treat it.

To assume because there is a problem it is our job to intervene and impose a quick solution is a very "entangled" way to live. Of course, we can be too "disengaged" also. Sigh. This stuff is tricky. Again I advise ice cream.

Astrological energy like this weekend's has a way of getting us where we need to be in the most expeditious way possible.

It knows we want to go to the market and that we are headed out the door toward Hwy 9 where there is a 3 hour traffic jam, so it coaxes us toward a new route with a sudden craving for that jasmine iced tea only available at the other market on the opposite side of town.

And we may never know about the traffic jam we missed and end up griping when we drive all the way across town for the iced tea and the jasmine bin is empty. 

And with Pluto and Uranus and Saturn energy all balled together like this it might feel more like everything is falling apart than a cool glass of iced tea. We will hang in there. Whatever is happening will be sorted out over time (Saturn). More in the weekly forecast here. Full Moon post tomorrow. Hang in there, February will be much lighter! Get the ice cream. xo all

Venus into Capricorn | January 23rd - comb your hair

fashion and the fantasy by little flair

Venus moves into Capricorn on Saturday.

Venus attracts. Capricorn Suns get more attractive. Our natal Capricorn house becomes more magnetic.

(speaking of attractive and magnetic - have you seen my lockets? blog readers get 10% off anytime with coupon code blogreader)

Since Capricorn is a serious sign ruled by taskmaster Saturn, the stuff Venus rules gets more serious. Venus rules art and beauty, love and money, our values and partnerships. We will naturally handle these things more seriously and attract situations that require us to get serious about this stuff.

We will look at the people, things and situations we have partnered with like a father checking out his daughter's new boyfriend. Other people will check us out as if we are about to date their precious daughter.

If we want to be taken seriously we will need to look the part now.

We attract (Venus) what we want by respecting Saturn (ruler of Capricorn) - don't make that important sales call or fire off those important emails wearing your pajamas and slippers with your hair in a messy bun.

That might have worked last week while Venus was still partying in Sagittarius, but for the next month (and the month after that - Saturn is co-ruler of Aquarius which is Venus's next stop) get dressed, comb your hair, put on some shoes. xo all

life unravels where it cannot unfurl ....

unravel series by jon jacobsen

Today the Sun moves into contradictory Aquarius and Mercury (still retrograde in Capricorn) squares Uranus in Aries (this happens again at the end of next week when Mercury is moving direct and happened on December 20th before Mercury's retrograde). This is tradition and authority being questioned, challenged, maybe upended. Maybe a bold new idea is generated and we take action, maybe some old information threatens our structure, maybe we step away from the crowd a little bit more, maybe someone else rebels against our authority. Squares are tension that push us into a new action - where have we just had enough?

If you have any planets 16-17 degrees Aries or Capricorn in your natal chart you will feel this transit the most.

Aquarius, the humanitarian, can sometimes view life from twenty paces. Maybe the only way to see anything clearly is to take a step back from it - of course, too many steps and we face a stony future devoid of empathy and geared solely toward the "greater good". Balance in all things. We move from earth to air today. Support your immune system. xo

your creative business and the astrological generations | feeding your customer's Pluto - Part III

dark sun by mirella santana

OK, let's wrap up this series with the youngest Pluto generations your business might be catering to.

To back up a bit - I think astrology could be a good way to analyze "generations" if we look at the natal placement of the planet Pluto (where Pluto was hanging out when we were born). 

Pluto is a slow moving outer planet. The furthest planet from earth (yes, Pluto is a planet, don't get me started!) and represents karma and the "soul".

We experience a compulsive attention to matters related to the sign where Pluto resides when we are born.

NOTE - Pluto moves in and out of a sign as it retrogrades, stations and moves direct so a person born within the first couple years Pluto is in a sign may be more in tune with the previous sign and a person born in the last two years more represented by the following sign. And of course each person has their own individual chart with many aspects and placements including the energy of Pluto's house that may work against this collective energy - still, this way of looking at generations will be helpful when we think about our customers as a group.

See Part I Pluto in Cancer, Pluto in Leo generations 
and Part II Pluto in Libra, Pluto in Virgo generations

Pluto in Scorpio (1984-1995) - The Pluto in Scorpio generation (Pluto rules Scorpio) are intense. Charged with going down into the underworld and coming up alive (which they mostly do, but not always) - they often work through dark and unsettling experiences very early in life - their growth (and the growth of the collective from the energy they carry and transform) is mountainous.

Scorpio (and Pluto) rules banking, big money, other people's money - taxes, loans, insurance, spouse's income, collective money, inheritances - death, rebirth, sex, gender, the resources of others, surgery, metaphysics, reproduction and regeneration. These are the areas this generation is here to reshape.

This is a connection energy like Libra - but Scorpio connects us in ways that are deeper, more transformative and often more uncomfortable.

Born into the energy of "I did not have sex with that woman" and Real World MTV escapades they have turned pornography into "porn", sex into "hook-ups" and invented "friends with benefits". IVF became more mainstream as more and more reproduction issues are surfacing. Faced with a future without enough jobs and with huge educational debts -  energy and beliefs around finite resources and what belongs to "us" and what belongs to "them" will morph mainstream thinking as this group comes into their own. Endless war, media fear mongering and video games has made them more immune to violence than other generations and sometimes a little cold, determined and often brave. It also leaves them open to going too deep and too fast into Pluto's underworld through loss of hope, drugs and escapism.

If your creative business services this group - think about some of these Scorpio buzzwords. What do they need/want now?

They will not chase the bright and shiny thing. They need/want to be lured and are drawn to the mysterious, interesting and different although celebrity culture and their interest in "big money" and "what other people have" could attract them to more mainstream things branded in these ways as long as nothing appears too superficial.

They need to feel "deep" and like things with messages and meanings and will think about the things they own and what those things say about them in these ways. They are drawn to the ancient and esoteric but want the latest iphone. They want to feel different, because they are, actually, and although they need to fit in less than other generations, they are still a connecting force with a need to "fit in" somewhere.

Born into fast moving energy that idolizes - because it's all anyone has time to look at anymore - the stuff on the surface, they will come of age with a need to really see/know/experience what is underneath the glitz and casual conversation. Anything lasting that your business offers this group should best be geared to what is real and what it says about them that they purchased it.

Those plucky, inspirational quotes on Pinterest and Instagram appeal to and are made by this group, as long as it makes them feel strong and powerful. They don't like wimpy sentimentality. Scorpio is about change, so products that are changeable or that grow with them or that they can change and make their own in some way would appeal.

Pluto in Sagittarius (1995-2008) - The Pluto in Sagittarius generation are (or will be, many are still children) all about freedom and philosophy. They are easily bored and not so easily restrained. With brains wired differently (please let's stop drugging them) they will birth new ideas and inventions and things no one has ever thought about. I would say the sky is the limit, but with this group it really isn't.

Sagittarius rules college, higher education, philosophy, foreigners and foreign travel, churches and religion, air travel, publishing, charities and international commerce. These are the areas the energy they carry is here to transform.

Pluto in Sagittarius is about BIG thinking. Growing up connected to the world wide web at all times through their cellphones and ipads not much will feel 'foreign' to them. Their educations may be more limited so they will learn and grow in new and unique ways. They won't be pigeonholed. They want adventure. They want travel. Their thinking will be more positive than the previous generation and so they might be a little more "lucky". This is the wanderer, bohemian, gypsy energy. They will reinvent how and why we travel and how information and products move around the world.

If your creative business services this young group - think about some of these Sagittarius buzzwords. What do they need/want?

This is very young energy - they are age 8-20 right now - so much of this will be future based with them as they come into their own. There are also some of the younger Pluto in Scorpio people who fit in better with this group. The youngest people alive now - born since 2008 are the Pluto in Capricorn generation who are going to transform business and security and those safety nets currently falling apart! Then in 2025 Pluto in Aquarius children will be born to hold that new humanitarian energy and usher in a new age. Yes, it's a long process!

Every generation holds the generational energy they are born into to transform and is shaped by the previous generations - in this way we carry the gifts and sins of our fathers forward. We can only start from where we are. I think science will someday, maybe led by a Pluto in Scorpio person (!), link astrology and DNA the way quantum physics is linking beliefs and DNA.

I hope something in this series is helpful to makers and business owners.

Thinking "What does this person need?" is a much better starting point than "Who do I sell/offer this thing to?". xo all

Astrology Forecast for Creatives | Week of January 17th - here comes the sun .... in wintry Aquarius - uncertainty, second thoughts, expect the unexpected through the rest of January

marina by bubbleguN-oo

Another intense week. Mercury is still retrograde until the 25th, when he stations direct and begins to move forward once again. The route a retrograde Mercury journeys this week, a direct Mercury will travel next week! So whatever happens now might un-happen or switch on us next week. Take things slow. Expect the unexpected.

With Jupiter also retrograde and hanging out with the North Node of our collective fate this is a big transition period - new jobs, relationships, people and spaces moving on, death and birth.  

Opportunities to connect and re-connect with people and situations continue.

On MONDAY we have a cozy Taurus Moon trining (brakes off) Mercury (retrograde in Capricorn) and sextiling Chiron - let's be patient with ourselves and others and give people the benefit of the doubt. This would also be good energy for healing rifts by making amends and accepting others' apologies.

Venus in Sagittarius squares the North Node and Jupiter in Virgo. There is some kind of tension that requires us to change something about a financial, love or values situation. Maybe something we have outgrown needs to be released. Maybe something we haven't yet grown into comes up close and personal a little earlier than we expected. Virgo asks if maybe we already have enough on our plate right now. Follow what is unfolding here. One step at a time. Even good things can get overdone with this energy.

The best use of Venus square Jupiter energy might be to socialize and have fun (if you can play hookey or if you have the day off for Martin Luther King Day maybe just do that). Don't go shopping and overspend though or eat the entire box of Krispy Kremes.

If we are determined to work, Mars in Scorpio (trine Neptune) could see our most productive actions focused on Scorpio (other people's money, sex, death, birth) and/or Neptune (creativity, healing, stuff that is hidden, research, spirituality) themes.

aquarius magnetic locket by polarity

TUESDAY'S Gemini Moon is great for communication, talks, and the flow of ideas - there is an aspect to Neptune that could make things a little fuzzy or sad maybe - stay focused on the present moment. Neptune is quelled with meditation (or try coloring or long quiet walks in a familiar space) although Gemini's buzz will make quiet-time a little more difficult than usual. Another good day for research.

On WEDNESDAY the Sun moves into Aquarius and we all start burning the fuel of the genius/rebel/criminal. Here we take those Capricorn rules and see them not as they are, but as they could be.

Aquarius is the sign of the humanitarian. It rules the time of year our ancestors ventured out into the cold to check on their neighbors. It can also be the space in our chart where we over-give and wear ourselves out. As we move from the grounded energy of Capricorn into Aquarius air it is also a good time to get sick - and especially come down with a head cold. Do whatever it is you do to bolster your immune system.

(at the recommendation of a friend I started putting 3-4 drops of garlic oil in each ear at the first signs of a cold - hubs says it's like sleeping with a pizza, poor fella - in addition to taking vitamin C every couple hours that day and 4 drops of oil of oregano in a tall glass of water - it seems to work very well)

Aquarius sun season is a good time to say yes to social obligations and activities - just stay hydrated and wash your hands :)

Stuff gets complicated beginning Wednesday when Mercury begins a two week long conversation with Uranus (change, rebellion, revolution) and Pluto (transformation).

First he squares Uranus in Aries pulling us back to the Uranus/Pluto square (freedom vs control, stability vs revolution). On Friday, Mercury joins Pluto. Direct confrontations can create permanent endings. Or maybe something just ends. If we commit to something now, it can also be pretty solidly fixed and we might want to adjust it next week when Mercury is direct, so if big decisions, purchases, deals, etc can be pushed out a couple weeks when we have our bearings and can tell where the chips have fallen, that might be better.

Remember the way through is still Virgo - small, measured steps will get us where we need to be. Whatever happens - matters of security and freedom will likely be overwhelming.

(if you are like me you might have started to work with some of these aspects last week, and of course, we will revisit them next week when Mercury goes direct and makes his way through these degrees ... again!)

Venus enters Capricorn on Saturday - love, money, our values - we get serious. We have a Full Moon in Leo on Saturday - this one culminates the New Moon from August 2014 so something from that time finishes up or with all this retrograde energy is back in play somehow - the Ferguson police shooting of Michael Brown/ state of emergency declared there, Robin Williams suicide, stock market decline, ISIL airstrikes, the shooting of Cecil the lion - whatever was happening in our own personal lives the summer before last .....

I'll do a Full Moon post later in the week. xo all