Venus into Aries | what are we willing to fight for

pillow fight by sliwka

On Tuesday, Venus (love, money, values, women, beauty) begins her annual journey through the sign of Aries. Aries suns (and ascendants) become more attractive.

The house where Aries resides in everyone's natal and progressed charts becomes more attractive, too (ie more receptive to a makeover and more able to attract what we want and need).

In impulsive, courageous and action oriented Aries, Venus wants what she wants, she wants it now and she is willing to fight for it.

We can take this too far of course, but with Mercury (conversations, communications, intellect) moving into Venus ruled Taurus on the same day that Venus enters Aries and with both planets in these spaces for most of the month - our heads, hearts and actions working together - we are more likely to be grounded, focused, enthusiastic and able to produce tangible results (patience will be required though).

Most of the time Venus gets what she needs/wants through her powers to attract.

In Aries, she (and we) will need to be a little more active to get things going. Our powers to attract will be greatly enhanced when wedded to an ability to initiate and act assertively now.

On the flip side, our Aries house - the space where we are naturally more inclined to create situations that force a need for us to stand up for ourselves - will enjoy a greater sense of ease, magnetism and peace with lovely Venus taking up residence.

Competition and jealousy can be issues now. Know this. We'll work from the highest space we can hold.

The fly in the ointment (yes, another fly, will somebody please shut the door!)  - Aries is ruled by Mars and Mars will go retrograde on the 17th of April. So things will not be as "full steam ahead" with Venus in Aries as other years - expect slowdowns and delays.

Expect people and situations from the past to show up for things to be reworked through our actions. Expect a renewed spark for something we were previously passionate about. Expect to find ourselves fighting about something from the past (love, money, values) and this is actually a time (over the next few weeks) when rehashing this old stuff could actually put it to bed once and for all.

Whatever happens this week we should certainly feel a push to do something.

xo all

(if you haven't seen this - Amy Cuddy's excellent Ted talk on how 'power posing - standing in a posture of confidence, even when we don’t feel confident - can affect testosterone and cortisol levels in the brain, and might even have an impact on our chances for success. Excellent info for Aries season!)

Astrology Forecast for Creatives | a peek at April

april rain by mirella santana

Let's take a quick look ahead at April, since so much will be happening (and not happening) - forewarned will be forearmed now.

We have a New Moon next week in Aries (with aspects to Uranus, Pluto, Saturn and the North Node). This feels like a very big, new and maybe unexpected commitment. Or I should probably write COMMITMENT. This one could have staying power for better or worse (we will need to be flexible, patient and ready to pivot as needed - where is Aries in your chart?) so caution is needed.

The energy around this New Moon will bring some major outer world events, too (April 6th-11th).

There is the opportunity for great wins and terrible losses here.

(and if that sounds dramatic, well we are living through dramatic times ... and I have been serial watching Happy Valley while I work and feeling strong and stable and much like that other Catherine this morning; the tough police sergeant - another great show with wonderful, complicated female characters - love it)

The Aries New Moon is an excellent time to create a vision board as we kick off the astrological year!

Last year's New Moon had no aspects to any other planets and this year the Moon has many intense aspects, so yes, this new year will be complicated (in the outer world and in our own lives) - as if we had any doubt about that! Remember we are all in this together - truly we are. See my post about vision boards from last year here.

The best time to begin something new will be between the New Moon and the April 22nd Full Moon, although I would get it launched before Mars goes retrograde on the 17th.

And that's the word of the month for April - retrograde. We begin the month with Saturn and Jupiter retrograde. As we move through April - Mars, Pluto and then Mercury will go retrograde, too. This is a whole lot of sky moving backward (from our perspective). There will be roadblocks, challenges and standstills (but aren't there always?!).

After all the changes and revisions (by late summer, early autumn) we will know where we are headed and how we need to proceed.

The best way through some of this will be to 1. focus on what is not retrograde (we'll talk this through as we move through it) 2. release our expectations about exactly how things need to look 3. embrace the chance to work through some old stuff (look to your Sagittarius and Scorpio houses for most of this) 4. create empty space (think closets, inboxes, calendars) 5. give ourselves a break and prioritize our health 6. as always this year, keep track of the details, focus on what is right in front of us, enjoy the process.

The last time Mars retrograded close to the piece of sky he is currently traveling was in 1988. We'll talk about this as we get closer.

There will also be some people who will feel the effects of March's eclipses in April. We'll hit on all this again as it approaches.

"when the student is ready, the teacher appears"  ... buddhist proverb

I love this proverb, but used to imagine this teacher would always have a human form - like a certain someone would pop into my life just when I needed them to and I would hear just the thing I needed to hear at exactly the right time and this has actually happened to me a few times (and all of us, I am sure).

(and I have to admit that I love to play the "teacher" at times and offer unsolicited advice the other person will quickly dispense with by saying, "well, that's easy for you to say", to which I always counter, "exactly, that's why I'm saying it", which always makes them rethink whatever I have just said and gives me a guru-like seriousness, kind of like Forrest when he came to the end of his run)

What usually happens though when we are "ready" is this "teacher" appears in the form of a lesson or obstacle or something that doesn't look anything like the solemn faced Mr. Miyagi we were expecting.

So, when we are ready (ie desperately need) to learn patience, for example - life sends us opportunities to learn patience by practicing patience - in other words - delays, traffic situations, time spent waiting - this year's month of April - you get the picture.

We'll know what we need to work on by what we are working on.

People keep asking me when things will get back to normal. There really is no 'getting back to normal' although almost certainly our bodies and brains will adjust to this new speed of life (or at least the next generation's will!).

The world is changing very fast. But the problems we are encountering are not anything new. The karma (beliefs) is just unraveling faster than we could have ever imagined.

Everything we need to move past (as individuals and collectively) is coming up for us to move past - everything we have ever swept under the rug (individually and collectively), all the pain we didn't allow ourselves to feel, all the words we didn't allow ourselves to say or hear (individually and collectively), all the ways we self-sabotage and hold ourselves back (individually and collectively).

Just imagine what our world will look like without all this old stuff clogging up the works!

Today, we are in the final third quarter moon phase of the astrological year - this is the best time of the year to finish things. 

The Sun is in Aries. We will be brave. We will take action. We will take charge of our lives. We really have got this thing.

xo all

(Aquarius Moon this weekend so a great time for an adventure - do something NEW)

Mercury Conjunct Uranus | flashes of genius, unexpected news

"Here's a terrific exercise that has to do with both geography and point of view: draw a map of where you live, your turf. You know where your house is, where the gas station is, where the mall is, and - if you're virtuous - where the church is. If you're the adventurous type, you know where the vacant lot is where you once set that fire. But soon - past the freeway, or by the railroad tracks - your knowledge stops. Drawing where you are in the world is marvelously helpful in showing you where you are in the world." -  Carolyn See

the way i see it by mellow spring

Mercury (intellect, communication) meets up with Uranus (eccentric, genius, rebel, out of the blue, out of the box) in firey Aries today. It will be harder to concentrate, but easier to be open-minded.

There could be unexpected words delivered like a slap to the face. With Aries, reaction time is rapid so there will be conversations/thoughts interrupted and conclusions jumped to. Nail biters, hair twisters and leg shakers will wear themselves out now. Computers and electronics could get wonky. Patience will be hard to come by.

This could also be the unexpected moment of genius - the flash of insight that offers us a breakthrough. Learning something new now might come in handy in a few months. Think - new and unusual. Think - outside the box. Think - safety first when driving or operating heavy (and not so heavy) machinery ..... xo all

Mercury Square Pluto | fallout

drown under by alle design

Mercury (in Aries) squares Pluto (in Capricorn). Mercury in Aries gives an edge to our words. Aries is the first sign; the sign of initiation. Aries energy, needing to go where no man has gone before, is, well, kind of, pushy. It's also passionate. And uncompromising. And often angry.

With Mercury (communication, intellect) in Aries we might speak before we think. Yes, our words can be braver and more groundbreaking, but also more thoughtless.

With today's square there is tension and frustration. Squaring Pluto there could be challenges to power dynamics and authority. Maybe jealousy. After last week's Full Moon eclipse relationship shake-ups some spaces could already be sensitive.

We don't have to be silent, but let's think before we speak. If we are courageous enough (Aries is the space in our chart where we need to stand up for ourselves after all) to launch any verbal truth bombs, we best be prepared for the fallout. xo all

Mercury Trine Saturn | devil in the details

"All good things are one thing. Sunsets, schools of philosophy, cathedrals, operas, mountains, horses, poems - all these are mainly disguises. One thing is always walking among us in fancy-dress, in the grey cloak of a church or the green cloak of a meadow."
 - G. K. Chesterton

details in the fabric by apples revenge

Mercury is trine (brakes off) Saturn making this a good day to put our mental faculties to use. This energy allows for excellent concentration and attention to details and we can get a lot of accurate, and otherwise tedious, work done now. Our thinking will be clear and realistic (although we might have a lot of details coming at us).

On the flip side, accurate work will be expected of us and small errors can derail big projects, so we'll double check things now.

We can be taken seriously and gain the respect of other people. With Mercury in Aries for the next couple weeks, we will need to be sure our words are not too aggressive - we can use Saturn to temper this now.

Tomorrow, Mercury will square Pluto; agreements and interactions with authority or established protocols may not go as smoothly. Today is more of a 'green light' day for important conversations and commitments.

If you have need of this energy (good energy to do our taxes!) use it. xo all

Astrology Forecast for Creatives | Week of March 28th - look up

i love i persevere

I hope everyone had a nice Easter. I will write about my trip next post, but here is a short update about the week ahead!

OK we begin this week with Saturn standing still; allowing us to refine our approach to whatever we are working on now. The stuff (habits, fears, etc) that is in the way of us getting what we want will become clear to us during this transit.

In Sagittarius, the sign of our beliefs and subjective truths, Saturn's five month retrograde will bring support to the beliefs that are working for us (as internal obstacles become clear to us and we build the patience to work through those external barriers) and clarity about the beliefs we need to release.

What really matters to us? 

Is what we are willing to work for actually worth working for?

If we think what really matters to us is having a "successful" business, we need to get clear about what this means. Because maybe we do have one by the standards that really matter, but are measuring our success by some artificial metric. Or maybe what really matters to us is something else and focusing on that will create the movement that brings the "success" we want/need.

The things we value most are always the things we spend the most time on - what does this tell us about ourselves? If we spend most of our time at a job we dislike maybe we value security/safety above everything else, even our own happiness. What needs to change here?

Saturn rules time, the most valuable gift we get on our journey, and there really are no shortcuts with this. That strawberry patch will bear fruit when that strawberry patch is ready to bear fruit and so will we.

On Monday/Tuesday, Venus conjuncts the South Node (in Pisces) and Mercury (in combative Aries now) trines (brakes off) Saturn in Sagittarius. We will be looking backward with Venus ruled love, values and money and existing structures, rules and commitments will be up for review.

This will be one of the last Piscean situations (healing, addiction, art, romance, spirituality, deception, what is hidden) we have been dealing with since eclipse season started three weeks ago. Pay attention to dreams and synchronicities now. This is about endings and what is happening behind the scenes.

On Wednesday, Mercury (in Aries) squares Pluto (in Capricorn) and conjuncts Uranus (in Aries) on Thursday. Surprising information will come to light (if you are like me, this hit last week) - it could be upsetting, maybe come through in anger or provoke anger. Either way something will probably hurt. With Mercury in Aries words tend to fly out (or be received) like bullets. Know this. Be sensitive. Conversations/communications with authority figures can be testy.

On Friday, Mercury is inconjunct the North Node in Virgo - the "news" from earlier in the week will need to be factored into our future path. This doesn't have to be a bad thing. Now we know what we are dealing with. Check the details, think like a Virgo, just do the work. xo all