Saturn Stations Direct | forward motion toward our long term goals

time out by evivalarte

After five months retrograde, Saturn - the planet of time, goals, commitment, responsibility - stations to move direct. Check 21 degrees Sagittarius in your natal chart to see the house (area of life) where he has been re-tracing his steps. 

It could have felt, during this time, that we were getting further away from our goals or where we want to be in this area of our life. Maybe obligations weighed heavily. Walls and limitations had to be faced. Corners we had previously cut were noted to be missing. The bills came due. Maybe we were re-evaluating, re-assessing, re-affirming our responsibilities and commitments. Maybe we learned to say, "no". Maybe we learned to say "yes" to something we had been avoiding. 

Saturn always gives rewards, but they are Saturnian rewards - coming after we've put in the time and hard work to build something that lasts.

Our long range goals that have been stuck can start to move forward now.  

We have until right around the time of the winter solstice to finalize plans for our Sagittarian house before Saturn moves home to Capricorn. Sagittarius rules our big picture beliefs, what is foreign to us, foreign travel, higher education, religion, politics, the media, the Sagittarius house of our natal chart and the house that houses the planet Jupiter. Wrap that stuff up somehow - figure out what you want and set up a game plan. Get something done. Stabilize this stuff.

If you have planets or points very late into Sagittarius - 28-29 degrees, Saturn will hit them the first week of December. He will go about stabilizing whatever is happening there, but it might feel better if we do it ourselves first. He is heading straight home to Capricorn now and we don't really want to be standing in the way of that (says the person with the 28 degree Venus in Sagittarius in her 2nd house).

Consider this a clean slate. Mercury is still retrograde but this is a great time for planning and making small, stabilizing moves. In some ways we are right back where we were five months ago with our goals and commitments, except we are older and wiser now. 

If we have used this time wisely we should be clearer now. Maybe we've let go of a few things, maybe some things have been firmed up. Saturn doesn't rush, because Saturnian things (the things that last) are built over time. We don't have to rush either.

A heads up that after September 5th or 6th we will have two additional planets moving forward - Mercury and Pluto (plus of course Saturn as of today). This is as good as it is going to get this year for "full steam ahead" energy, wind at our back. We could probably postpone a week or so after these dates for things to calm down, but that will be it. We will need every minute of everyday to get where we need to be by the end of December - remember the solstice - winter is coming.

Use that Virgo Sun to do the cleaning, planning and legwork now - cross your t's and dot your i's - you don't have to know exactly what you are doing. Just clean up the mess. It will all pay off later.

xo all

Eclipse Hangover and Venus Square Uranus | pattern disruption, course correcting

mirror by kasiowata11

Monday's eclipse was a potent pattern interrupter.

It brings something to light or eclipses something out of our way. It closes off one path, one way forward, so we are nudged, pushed, dragged or drop kicked (boot meet ass) onto another path.

With so much retrograde energy there is alot of looking backward here (in the United States we are working through our collective energetic baggage regarding the Civil War and Nazism) as old cycles need to be finished up. We don't want to/need to be carrying this sh*t anymore. This energy will play out over the next six months.

The North Node in Leo assures me that we need to focus on the future and what we are creating rather than on the past and what we have lost. 

I had my own Oprah 'aha moment' the morning after the eclipse. I'd stilled my mind in meditation, drawn myself, once again, into the present moment when it hit me that since I believed my past thoughts had set into motion my present reality, my consistent focus on the present moment (pretty much a staple of New Age thinking, not that I consider myself New Agey, but it does impact me), which is great for focus and clarity was at least partly (and maybe significantly) responsible for my endless loop of creating the same things over and over again. New characters, same story line. New actions, same results.

So because what is, is a reflection of what was - focusing on what is has us focusing on the past, so we keep recreating our future as the past. Am I making sense?

I need to do ALOT more thinking/feeling about what I want and the future I want to create - with an emphasis on the feeling that is symbolized by the thing I want. I always think I do this, but I don't do it anywhere near as often as I am focusing on the present moment

which is really the past in disguise! That tricky bastard.

Our lives are never stagnant for long, our lives are always changing - how much of this change we are consciously participating in is up to us. I am pretty certain our unconsciousness will have its way with us IF we do not have a certain level of commitment to ourselves and are not in a vibratory state where we can handle the responsibility of captaining our own ship.

Are we unconsciously generating a life that mostly consists of everything we have gathered along the way that is not even ours?

Anyway, this is just something to think about, how too much emphasis on 'being in the moment' or not enough emphasis on 'creating the future' could unconsciously set us up for a loop. I don't think we need to do less meditation, mindful walking, etc - I know this stuff is helpful. But I do think we need a daily practice of thoughtful creation (thinking about and feeling what we want that at least equals, probably in both time and intensity, the present moment practice).

***

I've been feeling hungover since the eclipse. I wrote the Sun into Virgo, clean the closet post, but keep opening my closet, inbox, etc and closing them again. Everything seems like quite a mess. Like I am being asked to clean up after Katrina.

I've heard some people found the eclipse to be energizing. I've felt mostly drained with a few sporadic moments of motivation. Now that the Moon has gotten away from the Sun (Moon into Libra today after traveling through Leo, the Eclipse and Virgo being blasted by solar energy - enough already Sun leave the poor Moon alone!) it could be the cosmic coffee that wakes me up - I am hoping!

Today could be tricky. We have Venus (in Cancer) squaring Uranus (in Aries) and trining Chiron (in Pisces). This is break-up, break-through, break something energy. And, yes, if we break something, the glass will be sharp.

Venus rules partnership, money, love, our self-esteem and our values. In Cancer, she is sensitive, moody and family/home oriented. She is squaring off with rebel/awakener Uranus in independent Aries. The trine to wounded healer Chiron means if something hurts here - the hurt is very old and very deep. And we'll know how old and how deep by how much aspirin or red wine we have consumed by the end of the night.

This square could make relationship and/or financial issues unpredictable. Maybe a change we should have made a long time ago now closes in on us. Maybe we make some kind of impulsive move or break toward freedom that just leaves us more unstable. There could be an unpleasant surprise here. It could feel like our safety/security is threatened. Slow down. Take a deep breath. We can love ourselves through this thing.

If we are the one feeling restless it doesn't mean we need to take drastic action - this close to the eclipses and with both Mars and Mercury set to hit the eclipse degrees within the next two weeks - maybe small moves would be best. Mercury is retrograde, along with four other planets including Saturn set to station direct TOMORROW. Let's not make any moves that set our course in cement, if we were a GPS we would still be course correcting.

xo all

Sun into Virgo | clean the closet

Still holding myself by little-moonshine

The astrology wheel is the hero's journey of self discovery. When the sun moves into Virgo today, it is the hero's (our) first encounter with service.

We are learning when to help and when helping isn't really helping. Virgo is the modest healer with the critical eye that takes care of the details. Meaningful work and competence are key now.

Virgo knows we are not here to do the work we love - we are here to love the work we do. There is a difference. This is the difference that changes the world. This is the difference that changes us.

Every sign has something to learn from the sign that follows it.

Leo learns from Virgo (and we all have Leo and Virgo in our charts somewhere - its placement will affect how this activates in your own journey) - to do the work. Virgo teaches Leo to let go of the need for the spotlight and recognition and to just focus on the work.

The king gets humbled (and we might, too, now!).

It is no coincidence that Virgo comes in autumn; the time of the harvest - the time we separate the wheat from the chaff.

The Sun in Virgo needs to do good work. In order to do this, we need to figure out what isn't working. We need to be able to see the flaws and problems.

When Mercury meets up with the Sun at the end of the week (and kicks off a new Mercury cycle) an idea, conversation, information, news, detail will come to our attention that tells us what we need to know to move forward (even though we are still looking backward). With the Sun's big old light we won't have to worry about missing it. It won't be a subtle thing. It will be obvious. It could be - the fly in our ointment, the flaw in our plans, the new idea, the crucial detail - that tells us what we need to know now.

Coming so close to Venus's move into heart centered Leo at the end of week (and with Venus now answering to Leo's ruler the Sun) we could use whatever comes to light now to determine if what we want (Venus) is at all practical or even actually possible now or it could provide us with the info we need to get it/make it happen.

Virgo's shadow is perfection. Perfection is a ferocious teacher and many people with strong Virgo have the battle scars to prove it. There must be self acceptance here  If a Virgo is unhappy with what she sees in the mirror, she will be unhappy with what she sees everywhere else.

Self-esteem is the key to avoiding self-destruction. Despite Virgo's need for careful planning (a well planned job is half done is certainly one of her mantras) she must learn to live in the moment and to live there with compassion (for herself and everyone else).

This is everyone's lesson now. We are all burning Virgo fuel for the next 30 days. Until September 5th, Mercury, the ruler of Virgo, is retrograde. We are looking backward. We are revising, redoing, renovating, rethinking, etc.

If major decisions or major moves can be put off until after this date, since we won't have all the facts and all our ducks beginning to line up until then - put it off. If it can't be put off, then make the decision, etc knowing things will work out a little differently than you think they will and there are still some tweaks and details that will need to be adjusted.

It's a good time to focus on our health - eat better, move our bodies more - Virgo rules the 6th house of health and work and there are reasons these two things go together

So let's get to work (can't you feel that "back-to-school, sharpen your pencils" energy even if no one in your life is heading back to school?). Let's get organized. Let's make our bed and sweep the floor. Any space in our life where we get to decide what stays and what goes is a good space to be working in now. Think closets and inboxes.

Evaluate what is and what isn't working - what is worth doing/trying and what isn't. The North Node is still in fiery Leo, but Virgo energy is practical. It is time to deal with all the little background noise that makes it impossible to hear what our heart is saying to us.

xo all