Mars Conjunct the Sun, Venus Sextile the North Node | a new action cycle, investing in what we love

swing by mh22

Mars conjunctions are new beginnings.

Whenever another planet conjuncts (meets at the same degree) the planet Mars we get a fresh start for that other planet's energy because Mars rules Aries and the first house of fiery initiation.

So something from the last Mars/Sun conjunction (mid June 2015, check your Facebook to see what was going on in your life if this time frame doesn't ring any bells) is ending now and something new will begin to open up. Since Sunday's New Moon was conjunct Mars there is likely a connection to that.

This is a fresh start for our Leo house theme (triggered by an ending or culmination) because this is the space the planets are meeting up and this is a fresh start for our Sun sign.

Mars transits encourage action. Leo transits elicit attention. Combined with our natal Sun sign energy (I know everyone knows their Sun sign!) this is our sweet spot of power now.

This is excellent energy to start a new, long term, project!

Two days after the last Mars/Sun conjunction which was conjunct Donald Trump's Sun/North Node/Uranus he announced his run for the Presidency. We might not have this kind of super-potent connection to our natal chart with this one - any planets or points near 5 degrees Leo in your natal chart? - but BIG, or should I say BIGLY shifts, are possible. The impossible can be made possible with this kind of kick-off.

We are living in the days between ages, moving from patriarchy into equality, from the Piscean age (patriarchy, authority) into the Aquarian age (equality, freedom). Anyone who expected the incoming Aquarian age to look like late 1960's hippie culture (peace, drugs and rock 'n roll was pure Piscean energy) is being badly shaken up. Aquarius (ruled by erratic Uranus) is about creation through chaos. With every leap forward (and technology, ruled by Aquarius and Uranus is making sure our leaps are often with lengths unrivaled by Olympic athletes) we face the risk of losing everything.

And yes, right now we, as a collective, are leaping - there are no guarantees of a smooth or even safe landing. Maybe we have to let go of the idea of even landing at all to enjoy (Leo) the trip! My thinking (!) is we can't think too far ahead now because what we are thinking and feeling and doing is constantly interacting with and changing the paths ahead that will be available to us. The "good old days" are what we carry inside us. We aren't going back there. This doesn't mean we don't have good days ahead of us, we have GREAT days ahead of us. They are just different days!

The fear that is crippling us/our planet at the moment, is the closing act of the Piscean play. It's the act whose lead characters are the parts of us - acted out by the people "in charge" - that refuse to change; the parts of us that would rather drown, and take the rest of us with them, than deal with and face up to how wrong their ideas/thinking has become. We see this in the collective, especially in politics, but we also see this within ourselves.

Our heads can't get there from here.

Our future is just too different from our now. And that's OK. With perfect synchronicity our loving Universe/God/Goddess has given us the North Node in heart-centered and Sun ruled Leo to guide us. Our hearts can get there.

With the Moon and Mercury in Virgo today we might be overthinking something. Our overthinking is actually holding the whole world back. Yes, we are that powerful! This doesn't mean we shouldn't be thinking at all. With Mercury in Virgo our thinking and reasoning skills are sharp and needed now.

But it's important to stay centered in our heart with whatever is happening. Remember that North Node in Leo. What do we want to create is this situation? What do we want to be recognized for?

We also have Venus (love, money, women, beauty, balance, fairness, self-esteem, what we value) sextiling  - OPPORTUNITY - our North Node in Leo. The opportunity comes from recognizing what we value now. What do we want to do with our precious hours on this precious planet? If some kind of balance needs to be reset - this is the time. This is the energy to beautify our environment and ourselves. This is the energy to be investing in what we love - what does that make you think about doing with your time, money, attention? Do some of that. This sextile is fleeting but not some small thing - please don't assume because it is only one tiny paragraph here that is isn't as important as all my ranting. It's more important.

xo all

Mercury into Virgo | precise language

emely by sollena fotografie

Mercury (communication, ideas, thinking, siblings) moves into organized and clear-headed Virgo today. Mercury rules Virgo and is uber-happy to be in his/her own sign after blasting through bombastic Leo.

Since Mercury will station retrograde during his stay in Virgo, this will be a good long chunk of time for us to tend to the details of whatever we have going on.

For the next few weeks our thinking will be more analytical. Conversations will be to the point. We will want the facts. Other people will want the facts from us. The numbers will have to balance out. Practical thinking matters. Mistakes will be noticed, so double check language, spelling, grammar, etc (I need to triple check because I always double check and still find errors in these posts!).

We will need to put on our magnifying glasses because if we don't see that missed punctuation mark, mathematical error, problem we have glossed over or unsubstantiated fact we are spouting - there is a very good chance someone else will. 

The shadow of Virgo is self-criticism (and criticism of everyone and everything) and self doubt - setting too high a standard. Perfectionism. Nothing is ever good enough and sometimes things don't get finished so we don't have to be judged and come up short. Since Virgo energy - and we all have Virgo somewhere in our charts - is one of the ways we learn to love ourselves unconditionally, we are pretty much guaranteed to miss something and make mistakes now and then.

We really can figure out and work with the things that need improvement without beating ourselves up when we come up short.

If we have been searching for a solution - this is great energy to nail one down!

Bottom line - it's time to get our sh*t together.

This is a good time to start/reactivate a mindfulness practice. Slow down. Think about what we are doing - ie I am doing the dishes, this water is warm and soapy, these dishes are cool, the sun is shining through the window, etc. There is so much wisdom encoded inside each one of us that gets bypassed when our lives get too noisy.

Mercury will soon be retrograde.

He is walking a path RIGHT NOW (started yesterday) that he will re-walk two more times. This means it is time to pay attention to what is going on in our Virgo/Leo houses because this is the stuff we will be going back over. When he turns direct on September 5th we will be sinking or swimming.

So what is happening now? Yesterday? Today? What are we working with - what are we in the middle of? What is just beginning? What is falling apart?

We are all aching to turn the world around. The collective world and our own personal worlds have reached an impasse with something. Everyone is dealing with their own intractable situation and at the same time we are all dealing with the world's problems that seem insurmountable.

Lots of stuff is about to get shaken up. Have I said recently - the eclipses are coming?!

For today, with Saturn sitting across from Venus and Venus about to confront Chiron next weekend, it is easy to get all mired in our own victim stories and focus on what isn't working. It would be better to step into our own Saturn now (responsibility) and find a way to bring love, balance and kindness (Venus) to someone else .... remember our collective North Node is in Leo - we need to be following our heart. We could start by loving what is right in front of us. xo

Astrology Forecast for Creatives | Week of July 24th - alice ... meet wonderland

alice in wonderland by needcaffine

MONDAY is a powerhouse kind of day.

Leo season is officially started - marked by the Sun's entry into Leo on Saturday and we won't have another Leo season like this ... ever!

Hello Alice meet Wonderland!

We wake up to the Leo Moon sextiling (opportunity) Jupiter (in Libra). Emotions expand. Partners will be looking for recognition and appreciation. So will we. Let's be generous. Let's be grateful for what we already have.

Venus (in multi-tasking, choice loving Gemini) opposes Saturn (still retrograde in Sagittarius).

Venus ruled - love, money, women, self-esteem, values, beauty - hit a wall (Saturn). There are limits (Saturn) to what we can attract (Venus) now. Maybe we are forced to be charming when we don't feel like it. Maybe we just want to be alone (Saturn) with our own thoughts (Gemini), but we are forced to be social (Libra). Maybe someone else (Venus) is tossing a wet blanket (Saturn) on us.

It could be that a less than satisfying (Venus) result (Saturn) is delivered now. With Venus set to square Chiron next week, there could be more painful stuff ahead. Ouch.

Remember that even as Saturn is forcing us to face some kind of limit it might not be as bad as it seems with so much Leo encouragement to go BIG - it could be a kind of counter-balance. Smart choices come with built-in restrictions - that's why we don't always make them! Stop signs, walls, or losses are par for the course and not because the smart choice is meant to curb our fun, happiness or freedom, but because smart choices have built in limits (Saturn!) - that's usually what makes them smart choices.

We don't get the good stuff in spite of the bad - we get the good stuff because of the bad! Two sides, same coin.

EXAMPLE FOR SCORPIO/ SCORPIO RISING - Venus opposing Saturn in your 8th house of other people's resources/values/skills means a clear financial or intimacy limit needs to be faced. Results could show up now related to your partner’s earnings/resources, taxes, debts, loans, inheritance, sex, death, rebirth, fertility. This week's opposition and next week's square to Chiron in the same space could mean a painful disconnect between what you want and what you have. This could connect back to this past spring's Venus retrograde.

We also have Mercury (in passionate Leo) trining (brakes off) Uranus (in Aries) on Monday. Mercury will be at the same degree of our big eclipse next month - so the breaking news/new idea now will tie in to that even bigger FRESH START.

Information/news/communication is sudden, liberating or inventive. Bright ideas will hit us right between the eyes. Our minds will be sharp with access to lightning fast, original thinking!

In the collective (as well as our individual lives) news will be unexpected.

Misuses of power will be called out this week. Lies will be called out. The reality police are on the job. Don't over-promise or over-commit now or we could get ourselves in trouble. With a crazy August ahead of us, if you don't need to make a life altering decision right now then don't - unless your heart is certain, then listen to your heart, but prepare for twists and turns.

Mercury is about to enter Virgo (a sign he rules) and then he will go retrograde (yes, the dreaded retrograde coming right smack in the middle of eclipse season!) and he will station direct (in early September) on the exact degree of the big Solar Eclipse in Leo next month, so whatever comes up now - it will tie in to eclipse season and all the revisions, reinventing we will be tasked with! Pay attention. Act I starts now -and it will be a doozy. Act II is scheduled for early September.

EXAMPLE FOR VIRGO/ VIRGO RISING - Mercury trining Uranus from your first house indicates that new idea, which might seem nuts to other people, is something you need to take a closer look at. Move toward whatever has caught your interest, knowing Mercury's upcoming retrograde and his tie-in with the eclipse energies means this won't be a fast or smooth process.

On Tuesday the Moon and Mercury both move into Virgo. This is good energy for organizing, paperwork, health issues, pet issues, day to day stuff. With Mercury in Virgo we will be more discriminating, more analytical, more careful with our words and more able to think things through.

On Wednesday, the Sun conjuncts Mars - plan to do something creative! We talked about this aspect last week - anytime a planet conjuncts Mars we get a fresh start with that planet. So something from the last Mars/Sun conjunction (mid June 2015, check your Facebook to see what was going on in your life if this time frame doesn't ring any bells) is ending and something new will begin to open up. Since Sunday's New Moon was conjunct Mars there could definitely be a connection to that. Passion, initiative, motivation (also anger) will be amped up, especially around Leo ruled romance, children, games, risk and our creative pursuits.

EXAMPLE FOR TAURUS/TAURUS RISING - the Sun is meeting up with Mars in your 4th house of home, family, home business, security. A cycle that started mid June 2015 has finished and you’ll be starting a brand new home/family chapter that involves assertively creating or going after what you want (have courage Taurus!) in terms of your security needs, appreciation and/or recognition within your home, home business goals and what YOU need to be happy within a family situation. It you want to move or change something in your home situation - well here's a fresh start toward that. This energy will be connected to Sunday's New Moon in Leo.

Creating what we want or going after what we want (including recognition and appreciation) will be driven by our daring and confidence. It takes daring and confidence just to say we want recognition and appreciation ... doesn't it?!

On Thursday morning the Moon enters Libra. This is good energy to be social, get out there and meet with people. The Moon will sextile the Sun at night - good date night!

On Friday, the Libra Moon conjuncts Jupiter in the afternoon - expansion via groups and partners - and squares Pluto in the evening - jealousy, manipulation, compulsion - not a good date night!

xo all

New Moon in Leo | time to set new intentions for what we are known for, our creative work, what we are prideful about

king of the lions by prudicast

Today's New Moon in Leo kicks off a very BIGLY Leo season. I have already talked about it HERE and HERE. We are going to be talking Leo, Leo, Leo for the next few weeks!

The New Moon slips in, plants the seed and pushes things forward. Are you ready?

Our natal Leo house is where we are meant to "shine" - this is where we create, take risks and are "recognized".

This "recognition" doesn't mean everyone is going to love what we are doing. But the stuff we are doing will stand out.

Following our heart is what we do for ourselves. This is a hard pill to swallow for many people (and of course, we can take this too far - some of the shadows of Leo are greed and approval chasing) - the idea that the most important things we do, the stuff that is true to our heart, is really all about us.

New Moons in fire signs like this (we only get 3 a year!) are enthusiastic and impulsive and starting now, within the next couple days, especially with a blank sheet of paper and an OPEN heart - enable the energies at play to work with us. 

Imagine the Gods and Goddesses rubbing their hands together excitedly, "OH! YES! NOW we've got a PROJECT!".

This fresh start will be about what we are known for, our creative work and what we value and are prideful about. 

What is the theme of your natal house activated by these energies?

That's your work space.

Where is 0 degrees LEO in your natal chart? Don't know? Email me or go to astro.com and print your chart for free.

If you have natal or progressed (remember the universe didn't stop moving the moment we were born) planets in fixed or fire signs at close to or on 0 degrees you will feel this New Moon the strongest. Anything ending now is standing in the way of what our heart really wants - let it go.

INTENTION TIPS: 

Let your heart guide you, forget logic with this one, clear your head, write what your heart wants not what you think you should write, write your intentions down by hand in script on a blank piece of paper, speak the words out loud, burn the paper - release your attention from these things knowing your intention is known. 

Life has heard you. 

Know these things are already yours.

xo all - back later with the weekly!

In the last post I linked to Marina's New Moon post about the energies at play during this particular Moon and how they might reflect "tribal shock" and "hive mind". I thought it made so much sense with last week's energies and the Sun leaving Cancer precisely before the New Moon. I felt the rightness of her words, but I didn't see it connecting to my own story.

Within just a few hours of linking to her post I found out my aunt - only family member left from my mother's generation, and only family older than me - had been moved across the country, away from my state, with her son and daughter in law without them telling anyone AND hubs had a big phone fight with his sister and told her to never call him again (in my family we'd be back on the phone within a week, but in his, the end very well could be the end and would leave him rather frozen out) ... families falling, drifting, breaking apart - there could be a familial part of our story that gets left behind as the new energy carries us into this brave, new Leo season ....

Mercury Conjunct the North Node, Sun Trine Chiron | what hurts is what helps, words that point the way forward

home by imagomundi

This week's diverse aspects have been a struggle to think/write about in a way that recognizes they work together and stand on their own.

Taken separately they are like looking at a complicated dinner recipe one ingredient at a time and trying to figure out what you are supposed to make. I am sure an experienced cook with a good eye and mature palate could create something delicious, but this week I have felt more like your average hungry person tossing all the ingredients into a pot and adding some salt.

We have only a couple more days of Cancer season - the season of nourishment. I have been using Blue Apron food delivery service, 3 days a week, for the last month - having lost most of the garden this year to animals. The biggest eye opener is how little food we actually need to make dinner. When I lay out the night's ingredients on the counter I am amazed they will feed 2 people - it looks impossible.

But we always have just enough. No wonder I toss so much uneaten food every week - for years I have been making way too much.

I think this applies to many things other than dinner ...

Today we have the Sun (our self, ego, light) trining (brakes off) Chiron (deep wound). The Sun is still in Cancer so maybe opening up (shining a light on) our home/family issues or childhood trauma actually makes us less hurt or less vulnerable. Maybe under the spotlight we can see these 'vulnerabilities' are part of our strength, too. Somehow they look more friendly in the bright light of day, don't they? What were we so afraid of?

Mercury (communication, ideas, thinking) hooking up with our North Node (collective way forward) means we need to pay attention to what is being said, what we read, what we see, etc now. Since Mercury trined Saturn on Wednesday - there could be some news or information guiding us toward a more stable future.

With the North Node in Leo, ruled by the Sun, these two aspects could work together.

Living our Sun doesn't mean we reject our inheritance. The opposite is actually true - the more we are truly ourselves then the more openhearted and genuine we can be to other people including the ones with the fingers on all our buttons. It's not that their fingers will move on, although they may seem to, it is actually that we won't be carrying around the hidden buttons anymore! AND although we can still see/feel their buttons we also see their frailties and vulnerabilities in a new way giving us the compassion to keep our own trigger fingers safely tucked in our own pockets.

The psychic skeletons that haunt our families - many for generation after generation, so often seen in our birth charts - the power ploys subconsciously designed to keep people 'close', the subtle and not so subtle undermining of talents and potentials, the scapegoating, the envy and resentment and fear that accrues within familial groups - the Sun, our heart, following our heart, has the power to break these family curses.

They need to come into the light.

(and yes, now I am picturing Poltergeist and that poor little girl trapped in the walls, or was she not supposed to go into the light, I don't remember)

I will do a final New Moon post this weekend to set our intentions. See Part I HERE and Part II HERE

The Moon has so many dots to connect and I hadn't been connecting it with all the family drama playing out within this week's closing aspects - here is a post by Marina at Darkstar Astrology where she does this very well ... the possibility of "sacrificing true family connections in order to please a fake, cult family" could resonate now. 

xo all

Sun Square Uranus, Venus Inconjunct Pluto | shaken not stirred

shaken by tori-f

I accidentally set this post to go live at 8PM instead of 8AM. I guess my previous, more upbeat Mars in Leo post wanted a little more center stage airtime - how very Leo!

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Today we have the Sun (in Cancer) squaring Uranus (in Aries) at 28 degrees. This could be disruptive.

Maybe a surprise situation or unexpected action (by someone else or by us) challenges or brings uncertainty to our security/stability or to a home/family situation.

Change directions too quickly and we could cause an accident, but this is good energy for a change in our appearance or the way we "shine" in the world. This is great energy to break out of a rut!

People will be restless and won't want to be pinned down. Today's stress/challenge could relate back to something from earlier in the week. Stay flexible.

We also have Venus (in Gemini) inconjunct a retrograde Pluto (in Capricorn) at 17 degrees. Our own choices and decisions regarding Venus ruled money, love, values, self-esteem or beauty situations could be contrary to whoever/whatever holds the power now.

Maybe something we thought/hoped we were finished with comes back around or maybe our "rehab" hits some roadblocks. Jealousy, manipulation, obsession, compulsion and power plays could cause issues within our relationships. Whatever the situation we are dealing with, if this transit is hitting our chart, the answers aren't easy and could be out of our hands for now ....

xo all