Mars into Scorpio | strategy, what we do in secret, compulsion, obsession, passion, strengthening our emotions, plastic wire ties

What grows in me by Anina-Bird

The Moon is in Virgo today focusing us on the nuts and bolts of whatever we have going on. If you woke up worrying or focused on a to-do list - this is why. Ha!

Late tonight and really very early Sunday morning we will have Mercury trining Uranus - with Sagittarius and Aries energies in play this is about assimilating an ideal/belief into our personal identity. It could also indicate a sudden change of plans (for the better), meeting new people or unexpected news.

If you sell things, tonight and tomorrow's aspects will be good energy for people to be engaging in commerce (Mercury). Purchases will likely be practical with that Virgo Moon, but they could be impulsive (Uranus).

The big news today if we take a step back is Mars moves from his detriment in Libra into a much stronger position in Scorpio (a sign he once ruled) until January 27th.

With Mars (action, initiative, passion, anger) here we will think about what we are going to do before we do it. Scorpio likes to premeditate. And, yes, that sounds slightly criminal and mostly devious, but this is Scorpio we are talking about! This energy works pretty well with the Mercury retrograde energy we are already dealing with now - re-do, re-visit, re-think, re-vamp, re-define.

We could be doing things in secret. Shh!

Mars here can be good for our physical energy since Scorpio is continually re-generating itself. So, maybe we go to bed exhausted and drained, but somehow we still wake up ready to give the world another go.

Because Scorpio rules our 8th house of compulsions and obsessions we could find our actions driven by our impulses. If you find yourself caught in a loop - STOP - ask yourself - why am I doing this again? why am I so mad? why do I want this so badly? what am I really trying to get?

We can get alot done with Mars in Scorpio (although Mercury retrograde will impact what we are able to accomplish) let's just make sure it is stuff worth doing.

Scorpio is our fixed water sign. It's job is to strengthen our emotions. But fixed water is well, kind of fixed. Think frozen. Think concrete. Think quicksand. It can make it hard to change course if we get too emotionally wedded to whatever it is we are focused on. Just keep in mind Mercury is retrograde. Stay flexible somehow.

If you are heading into the quicksand anyway, keep one hand on a tree branch, like they do in the cartoons, to pull yourself out later. But don't say I didn't warn you if the branch breaks.

Where is Scorpio in your natal chart? That area of life will snap to attention now.

This is also a good time to take action with Scorpio ruled themes - other people's resources, debts, loans, inheritances, mortgages, taxes, insurance payments, intimacy, sex, reproduction, death issues, stuff that is dead in the water (or caught in the quicksand). With Mars blasting through this collective area we will have more energy, initiative and control over these subjects than we usually do. Keep in mind we will also be more passionate about them and easier to anger.

On January 6th, Mars is going to meet up with Jupiter at 17 degrees Scorpio. This will expand whatever actions we have been taking with this Mars energy. So take strategic action from now until then. You have the benefit of astrology to see this magnification coming. Use it wisely.  

And you are smart as a whip. I can see you have already tied yourself to that branch with some of those nylon cables you had left over from hanging the Christmas lights. Smart girl.

xo all

Astrology Forecast for Creatives | let's take a look at 2018 - reality bites back, part II

I Was Broken by Martin Stranka

OK, back to the future!

Chiron moves into Aries in April (until 2026).

Chiron is called the wounded healer. Read the centaur myths for background. Chiron comes from the opposite side of the Sun, from the "otherness/darkness" of outer space. Chiron's placement in our natal chart shows us our own space of "otherness/darkness"; our wounded heritage.

Sometimes when we work with Chironic energies we find we can do more to help other people than we can do to help ourselves.

Chironic happenings make us more healed and more whole AND at the same time they make us more fragile and more vulnerable - so the cure and the wounding are both experienced at the same time.

If you were born with Chiron in Aries, this would show a kind of hypersensitivity to the idea of self in whatever house Chiron shows up. This is a wounding to our self-worth. It can show up as an inability to assert our own needs. It can make us over-reactive and over-sensitive to criticism. Since Aries rules the first house of our physical self - it could even make us accident prone, particularly in regard to accidents involving our head. It can produce headaches or situations we speak of as "a headache".

A musician friend with Chiron in Aries in his 5th house (also North Node 5th house) worked in a music store. The owner of the store wanted him to take on some students and teach them to play the guitar, but he always said no. He just didn't think he could do it, although he told himself he didn't want to do it.

Over the years as his money and joints got tighter and his love of music grew less enthusiastic, he found himself pushed into a corner (Aries requires us to be brave and we often, unless we have strong Aries/Mars in our chart, must have our backs against the wall to act) and finally agreed to try teaching - just "a few" students.

Three years later his 'few' students has grown to 60 students. He is the most sought after music teacher in his city. He teaches the children music, but he also helps them with their self-esteem. They tell him things they don't tell anyone else. They never miss a lesson. Their parents are amazed at the changes in their most bashful children. My friend's joints aren't as achy. His money isn't quite so tight. He is more self-assured, too.

He still has some issues asserting himself outside that classroom though.

Maybe it is something we can never totally 'fix' because it is the fragility, vulnerability and authenticity it opens up in us that is needed (for us and for other people - there is only one of us here) and not the actual healing (for us).

OK, so what does Chiron's move into Aries in 2018 mean to us.

It will bring a focus on our personal accountability to self. It will push into our awareness, any way it can (remember Uranus has just been creating chaos in this space opening everything up), whatever aspect of our personal existence we have abandoned.

Collectively, maybe the Chiron archetype itself morphs as we move into a new cycle with Aries, the first sign, the starting point. Maybe we can move from the 'wounded healer' into more of our own wholeness over the next few years. Surely we will be working with the more Aries/masculine woundedness - the spaces wounded by war and competition.

Some things this could bring up for us since our Chironic wounding is very much an inherited wounding - 1. Patterns we need to release, especially the stuff we have done in the past to keep us safe that is now keeping us stuck. So stuff will happen to us and we will react in our usual ways and either our usual ways will not work or we will see what we are doing in time to be brave (Aries) and do what is most loving and healing for ourselves 2. The childhood pacts and compromises we signed in order to be loved and accepted by others that are not very loving and accepting to us. We are starting a new cycle with all of this stuff. Those contracts have expired. We may find we aren't sure who we are for a while without these types of commitments and that's OK. Again we are starting a new cycle. We might have more questions than answers.

The years between now and 2024 when Pluto moves into Aquarius are a crisis point - crisis meaning both danger and opportunity.

There is alot of energy in 2018 that will focus us on being self-supporting and self-sustaining.

Where is Aries in your natal chart - this will be the house Uranus has been rocketing through the past seven years - something here is ripe for healing. 

The North Node moves into Cancer and the South Node into Capricorn - coming home - in part III.

xo all

Astrology Forecast for Creatives | let's take a look at 2018 - reality bites back, part I

I Found The Silence by Martin Stranka

I have been hesitating to look too closely at 2018 until we get through this month's Mercury retrograde on Saturn and Saturn's ingress into his home sign of Capricorn. Because we don't know what we don't know yet.

Some things are best viewed/felt from a closer perch. That menacing blob in the corner that looks just like the deadly Brazilian Wandering Spider we saw on the Discovery Channel last night from 20 feet away (one has never been spotted in New Jersey, but who knows I am sure they call the tenacious little fellow 'wandering' for a reason, right?) can turn into the rolled up sock we lost doing yesterday's laundry as we get within spitting distance. Of course, there is always that light in the distance that turns out to be a train, too ... so it can pay to be prepared.

Since I am out of a certain size rivet until today's UPS delivery and am pretty much at a production standstill with the donut-making aka locket business, for a few hours, let's take a brief look ahead.

I got back into astrology during a time I was feeling very uncertain about the future (wait, has there ever been a time I didn't feel this way ... uh, probably no!) and wanted to know what was going to happen. What I have discovered is there is not a 'thing that is going to happen'. The future isn't something waiting out there for us to meet up with it - it is more like a collection of possibilities.

Instead of buying into the idea that the future (Age of Aquarius) is either something like a utopian heaven or something like a dystopian hell, maybe we need to be more accepting of the idea that we are living in a magical, unfolding universe that we are influencing but not controlling. We don't get to know "what is going to happen" because there isn't a thing that is "going to happen". Yet.

Now through Astrology, which is a language that speaks through archetypes and patterns, it can seem that it is possible to look ahead because a good puzzle-solver can make some pretty good and often pretty accurate guesses, but guesses are still guesses.

If a dreamy Neptunian person is about to have stabilizing/restrictive Saturn transit her first house an astrologer could know she is about to be 'sobered up' in some sense.

But her lifetime of thoughts and decisions and actions will dictate what this 'sobering up' looks like.

If she is an artist using her Neptunian skills to illustrate a children's book maybe she will pull the book from the bedroom closet (where it had been gathering dust while Saturn transitted her 12th house) and get serious about finishing it. If she has been hiding empty wine bottles in that same dusty closet maybe she will get serious during a DWI arrest. Maybe both things will happen during the transit. Or maybe something else altogether. So we can see the 'sober up', but not so easily the way this sobering up will play out until we get to a closer perch.

That said, let's take a look at 2018 and see what we see while understanding we will get to a closer perch later and things will be clearer.

In or near 2018, four slow moving planets will change signs (very unusual) as well as the Nodes of Fate. Both Venus and Mars will go retrograde (not so common during the same year). We will have five eclipses instead of the usual four. The Aries point will be hit again and again by Saturn and Chiron. Multiple energies move into earth signs. Earth replaces fire. So we see lots of change, lots of feminine energy.

What we know:

Jupiter will be in Scorpio for most of 2018 - deep conversations, radical honesty. We can see what this transit is about within the collective as sexual harassment and unbalanced/corrupted power issues (Scorpio) expand (Jupiter) until the elephant in the room can no longer be ignored. Any similar imbalances within our own lives (intimate and financial) will do the same thing. If you have planets or points in Scorpio, Jupiter will conjunct them in 2018 (if he hasn't already) - if you have planets in Taurus, Jupiter will oppose them, planets in Aquarius and Leo will be squared. You can see how everyone will be impacted by this, but some people to a greater degree than other people. The lessons for this transit will be about authenticity and real power - not being afraid to speak up. Relationships are rock 'n rolling.

Saturn will be in Capricorn in 2018. Saturn was last in Capricorn in 1989 (what was happening in your life then?), he rules Capricorn and is very strong here (he is also the ancient ruler of Aquarius his next stop, so he will be strong for at least five years!). I am writing a big post about this, by sign, for later this month, so am not going to go deeply into it here. This is the 'winter is coming' energy. This is structure, boundaries and limits. Dad's home. So, yes, the party's over (why didn't anyone tell me there was a damn party, why do I always miss the damn party?) and we have to knuckle down and be in by curfew and study for the exam and mow the grass. On the other hand alot of really stabilizing things can get done when dad's home. It can feel good to get enough sleep and be prepared to ace our test and come home to a fresh cut yard.

Uranus will move into Taurus in May 2018. Taurus rules our 2nd house of what we own - our self esteem, our values, our possessions, our money, Mother Earth. Uranus will shake this stuff up for the collective. There could be some kind of shock to the banking system/money markets and/or the planet around mid-May 2018 when Uranus ingresses into Taurus. Over the next seven years the way we use and value money will be totally revolutionized. Over the next seven years the way we use and value Mother Earth will be changed and revolutionized, too. Since we are all part of this collective energy we will be impacted by these changes. Uranus's change of signs will also impact us personally as he shifts into a new space and interacts differently with our natal energies. Wherever he goes we can expect change and a need for greater freedom.

Chiron will move into Aries in 2018.

We'll talk about this in part II. In the meantime don't miss the monthly because December 2017 is a very important month and we don't want to be looking too far ahead just yet (says the girl who is looking too far ahead).

Time to make the donuts.

xo all

I haven't forgotten the personalized Uranus transit (starting May 2018) write-ups for everyone who volunteered - they are almost complete. I think they will be better read after we get through 2017's energies, too.

Mercury retrograde conjunct Saturn, Mars sextiles both | getting serious, thoughts become things, confidence needed, yes - you need a strategy

***by Daizy-M

Today we have a retrograde Mercury (news, information, communication) meeting up with Saturn (limits, responsibilities, authority, time) while both planets sextile (opportunity) Mars (in Libra).

Whatever Mercury retrograde has us - re-working, re-visiting, re-doing, re-thinking, re-leasing - will be front and center now.

Mercury conjunct Saturn is a repeating aspect. We had this on November 28th and it repeats again next month when both planets have moved into Capricorn - that's when we get the final, final.

In the meantime, whatever is happening now will be re-looked at. Maybe some discussion is dragging on. Maybe a firm commitment isn't looking quite so firm or a finish-line has been moved.

Today's sextile (opportunity) with active Mars in diplomatic Libra tells us headway can be made now. If we must deal, yes, one more time, with another tough problem/decision some progress can be made here - you are a General, you need a strategy.

What are your priorities? What are your responsibilities? Where are your boundaries? What action can you take now - remember the Universe can use whatever action you take to get you where you need/want to be.

While Mercury and Saturn are still in optimistic Sagittarius, the way through this is a type of confident and expectant fearlessness. 

And taking action from that space.

Thinking - "of course things are going my way" and then, before we know it, they actually are. Our heads/words (Mercury) are creating the concrete/foundation (Saturn) the next few years are built with.

Realize any delays or slow-downs now are part of the process. Where have our limiting beliefs about what is possible for us kept us boxed in?

There is some connection between that and whatever is happening now.

Notice the way our thoughts become literal things we can touch today - there is magic afoot people!

xo all

Chiron Stations Direct | feeling is healing, sharing what we have learned, make some chicken soup, clearing the ground for our future self to assert her will despite being awkward and feeling unprepared

hoping for a white christmas by photoflake

Chiron stations direct at 24 degrees Pisces (retrograde since July).

Especially if you have planets or points from 24-28 degrees of Pisces (the degrees he traveled during his retrograde) - or the other mutable signs - Virgo, Gemini and Sagittarius - you would be feeling this.

Read the Chiron myth. Remember what a 'myth' is - a myth is something that never happened that is always happening.

It would be a good day to honor the parts of ourselves/our heritage we have abandoned as unacceptable.

Chiron's direct motion today can indicate forward movement around a hurtful/difficult issue. Chiron doesn't heal the issue, but his station direct can create forward momentum. Remember the gifts of Chiron - once the wound is accepted - of compassion, empathy, a capacity to pass this hard-earned wisdom to other people in a way that penetrates them (since we have been there/are there) - we become magnetic.

(and speaking of magnetic - warning shameless plug ahead - I still have a few gazillion of these magnetic lockets to move from my house to someone else's this holiday season and they make wonderful gifts - blog readers get 25% off with the coupon code OliveReader)

Chiron's movement now could focus us, via whatever is happening in our lives, toward a space of vulnerability, a space that hurts, maybe a space where we have a little bit more to give.

Chiron is moving into brave and pioneering Aries in mid-April, so we could be feeling a push to get something wrapped up now to clear a space for that. Next year Chiron will require us to assert our will despite feeling awkward and unprepared.

In the meantime if you are feeling/healing this transit some ideas would be 1. share your journey/story with other people - what have you learned so far 2. be kind - with ourselves and with other people now 3. stay hydrated and get enough sleep - Chiron's station is a good time for physical illnesses to worsen a bit 4. honor the times we have overcome hardship - we are stronger than we think we are

Mercury and Saturn are approaching each other again - exact tomorrow - Mercury is retrograde - this isn't the time for big new moves.

The Moon is in Cancer - focusing us on home, family, real estate, home/family business, renovations, moves, our roots, mothering and trining Jupiter and Neptune. This is perfect energy to release any attachment to the past that is keeping us stuck as we dream and intuit a future of prosperity, security and kinship.

By this afternoon the Moon will oppose Pluto so interactions with other people could be complicated and difficult as we adjust to each other - time could be better spent cleaning out closets, in-boxes, etc. Pluto rules elimination - what needs to go?


xo all

Astrology Forecast for Creatives | December 2017 - a look at the month ahead from big bang to long winter's nap ...

Porcelain by kamakebelieve

I thought I would put up a monthly for those who like to look ahead.

I will still be writing the dailies, but the Sunday weeklies will probably need to be put to bed for December to make way for my holiday shipping - time to make the donuts.

(Note - blog readers always get 25% off in both my Etsy shops with couple code - OliveReader - Polarity and Uncorked)

Below is pretty much the gist of what I would likely be writing about in the weeklies anyway except for the Moons which I will try to work in somehow.

We have a couple more weeks before Saturn comes home to Capricorn and the planetary energies are doing their best to bust us out of any comfort zones before the cement gets poured!

With Saturn in Capricorn we will be building from the ground up - it is never to late to start anew. How do we want to spend our precious days on planet Earth? What would we be happy if we never had to do again? What do we want to build this time? It is Sagittarius season and there is a whole big world out there.

December starts with a BANG.

On DECEMBER 1st, Mars (in Libra) opposes Uranus (in Aries). This is an abrupt change (unexpected action) or some kind of big push forward into new territory. No one will want to be caged in. No one will want to play by other people's rules - or any rules! Lack of progress can be frustrating. Mars in Libra wants things to remain balanced and diplomatic, but Uranus has other ideas.

We will likely get a clear look this weekend at the price we are paying to remain comfortably housed in our box. Don't worry. Wood crates are so last century - boxes are mostly made of cardboard these days - and we can bust our way out of those!

This energetic shift (this has been in play all week and for a few more days) will solidify something in our Sagittarius field by the time Mercury meets Saturn again on December 6th.

These energies don't always play nice. Keep in mind that we and other people could be impatient and even confrontational. Something started at the end of March 2017 could reach a testing/tension point this week. I have a friend who quit a new job she worked hard to get after one little thing went wrong yesterday - not such a good use of this radical energy.

People prone to making unpredictable moves (likely strong Uranus) or people whose "go-to" emotion is anger anyway (likely strong Mars), could really muck this up. But we all could, so stay frosty.

Mars/Uranus always brings the possibility of violence or an argument, so do your best to out-maneuver anything too wild and erratic. Take care with fire, electricity and power tools. Drive carefully. Look before you leap. This could be just what is needed to kick-start a stalled project/relationship as long as we are willing to try something new AND not take things too far too fast.

Venus moves out of her detriment in Scorpio and into sunny Sagittarius! Sagittarius Suns and risings become more attractive - both easier on the eye and able to attract what they want. All of our Sagittarius houses become more attractive, too! Where is Sagittarius in your natal chart?

We will be attracted to bigger and bolder and more adventurous people and schemes. Venus in Sagittarius is naturally hopeful and idealistic - this, especially coupled with its kick-off Mars/Uranus energy - will encourage us to explore a wider vista. Maybe sometimes the grass really is greener on the other side.

Venus themes - love, money, women, beauty, self-esteem, our values and resources - could offer us some kind of escape now - it is the season after all! - maybe something impractical or exaggerated. This might be just what is needed for now to get us unstuck from something else.

Don't use his energy as an excuse to buy more/bigger than we planned to buy. We don't want to be over-spending on holiday gifts now because the month is going to totally flip around on us later and we will probably come to regret it.

On DECEMBER 3rd, we have a Full Moon in Gemini and Mercury (Gemini's ruling planet) stations retrograde. Mercury is still conjunct Saturn (karma, limits, authority, structure, time) and the Moon and Sun are square to fuzzy, dreamy Neptune.

Most people think of Mercury retrograde as the time he/she is backtracking, but the story is LARGER than that - his journey (inside us) actually takes us over situations and issues THREE times - we go forward, we go backward (doing the "re's") and then forward for one final time after we've had time to re-access, re-examine (whatever the situation calls for) whatever is happening.

It brings delays and slow-downs. Stuff that is usually fast moving (Mercury is the fleet footed messenger), that carries us/our thinking/our belongings from space to space, gets wonky. Anticipate postal delays and shop early. Insure your packages. Double check your travel plans. BACK UP YOUR COMPUTER. This is not a good time for any large purchases, especially of complicated items.

I remember when most people had never heard of Mercury Retrograde and now it seems like poor Mercury (planet of communication and MAGIC) is being shamed/blamed for everything that goes wrong! This is probably because 1. the internet has exposed many more people to astrological teachings 2. most people are moving so fast now any sort of slowdown feels like a problem  3. it's a convenient excuse when stuff falls to shit (pardon my french), especially stuff that would normally be considered our fault.

Life doesn't stop because Mercury (or any other planet) is retrograde. Yes, it's not a good time to sign an ironclad contract (but how many ironclad contracts will we sign in our lifetimes anyway) because conditions will change later and we might be stuck.

But for most things that come up during Mercury Retrograde, we can change our mind later (yes, we're human, this is usually allowed). We can also wait. If we do buy something big now, especially something with fast moving parts, we can keep our receipts and we can buy that service contract we always refuse to spend the money on. If our hair colorist is on vacation and the substitute gives us a really bad vibe, maybe our roots can wait until our colorist gets back.

Yup, there's that waiting thing again.

(now life is tricky and Mercury is actually known as 'the trickster' and also a genius and knows that the best - and possibly only - way to develop patience is to encounter situations that require this of us - life sends us an opportunity to learn patience by practicing patience - in other words - delays, traffic situations, time spent waiting - you get the picture)

If we obsess over everything that can go wrong during a Mercury Retrograde we will miss our chance to experience everything that can go right.

This is the time we get sightings of what's arriving. Mercury says .... "hold up there a minute sister, don't rush forward too quickly. This may take a little time". With Saturn sitting pretty much right on top of him/her this is especially true now.

The Full Moon is too complicated to toss together in a paragraph, but here goes. It will be confusing. How confusing? Well, if you have any planets or points around 11 degrees of the mutable signs - Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces - you can tell me when it's over!

There could be choices. There could be fiction presented to us as fact. There could be fact that looks like fiction The Full Moon will bring something to light or to a conclusion, but we won't know if it is the real deal or more sleight of hand. Things that look over might not be. Things that look full steam ahead might not be.

The Moon is inconjunct Jupiter so we will probably want whatever we are hearing to be true, even if all kinds of buzzers are going off in our head that this is too good to be true.

With Mercury stationing retrograde at the same time we won't be able to sweep any inconsistencies under the rug because we will be hitting this degree (walking this path, opening this door) two more times! Let things unfurl a little here. A Full Moon in Gemini is great energy for second chances and multiple options - just keep those options open for a bit ...

On DECEMBER 4th, we have the first of three highly anticipated trines between Jupiter (in Scorpio) and Neptune (in Pisces). This is our dreams on steroids encouraging creativity, spirituality, compassion, romance. Angels are standing by. Ask for assistance.

The fly in the ointment with this (you can always count on my Mercury in Capricorn to point out the flies!) is Sunday's confusing Full Moon in Gemini.

We could spend this energy trying to figure out what everything that is happening actually means. 

If you find yourself pleading with life to tell you what the hell life is trying to tell you "what the hell should I do?" and not getting any answers - stop doing this and clean your closets. Give stuff away. The Moon is Full - create some space. Then ask again from a more sacred, humble place. xo

On DECEMBER 5th, Chiron stations direct at 24 degrees Pisces. Especially if you have planets or points from about 24-28 degrees of Pisces - or the other mutable signs - Virgo, Gemini and Sagittarius - you would have been dealing with this since late June/early July when Chiron stationed retrograde. By mid April 2018 Chiron will be completely finished with these degrees and yes, moving on into Aries. Do I hear a collective Pisces cheer? I thought so!

Sometimes Chiron transits show up as physical illness and could be especially felt around the times he stations (standing still/changing direction). We might need to take special care of our physical body now and/or give ourselves a mental health break.

We move through whatever pain, wound or vulnerability we are dealing with by A. surviving the transit and B. getting in touch with the real root of the situation, which often involves an old wound the current wound is reactivating. Often feeling is healing, sometimes it is more about managing the pain. I am sure Chiron (as well as Neptune) moving through Pisces has played a big role in the current opioid crisis.

The mid 60's born Chiron in Pisces group currently experiencing their Chiron return are invited to turn their erratic and painful (60's energy) "poison" into "medicine" and offer it in the spirit of healing and service now in whatever way is appropriate within each person's purpose and vocation ... hopefully we have enough left and awake in this generation (working through the collective separation from spirit/invisibility) to move the needle.

On DECEMBER 6th, Mars sextiles (opportunity) Saturn and Mercury conjuncts Saturn (again). Our Mercury retrograde story gets another jolt of reality, takes another karmic hit (can you feel the deep gunk being shifted?). Sober up. The sextile promotes taking action that creates long lasting results. Serious words, serious action produces real results over time.

Two days later on DECEMBER 8th, Mars moves out of his detriment in Venus ruled Libra and into Scorpio, a sign he used to RULE. Our power, courage and tenacity increases. Probably 10 fold. Well, Mercury is still retrograde so maybe 6 fold.

The next week is kind of quiet with exact aspects - keep in mind that, yes, Mercury is still retrograde.

On DECEMBER 18th, we have the New Moon in Sagittarius. Fire sign New Moons are especially effective "starter" energy. This one is conjunct Saturn on the uber powerful last degree of Sagittarius and squaring Chiron. This sounds like the final birth pains as we walk the very, very end of Sagittarius - with the energy around "counting our blessings" tossed in at exactly the most appropriate time of the holiday season. What have we learned about ourselves during the last 3 years as Saturn moved through Sagittarius? What beliefs have shifted? How has our Sagittarius house been impacted? How has our, and the collective's, working through issues dealing with the Sagittarius themes of religion, foreign travel, foreign people, higher education, expansion, faith, publishing, the media, our brother and sister-in-laws, weddings - changed us during this time?

This will be a big week.

On DECEMBER 20th, Saturn comes home to Capricorn until January 2020. This is the biggest astrological news/shift of the year. This is about integrity and responsibility - putting on our big girl pants and handling whatever it is we need to handle. Buy yourself a few pairs. Getting serious. Getting credentialed. Getting down to business. Facing reality. Whatever these words are bringing up for us will probably be on our agenda plus a whole bunch of stuff we can't see past the 'hoops we will have to jump through to prove ourselves and stay afloat' to know about them yet.

Capricorn rules winter and this is going to be a LONG one. If we haven't made a holiday gimme list for Santa yet - we need mittens. And a hat. And actually the coal we are usually hoping isn't tossed into our Christmas stockings will be a good idea this year. Hang onto the coal.

#kidding #notkidding

Keep in mind our Capricorn house is already where we take things seriously. Whatever area of life this is impacting for each of us, and I will do a post, has never been a walk in the park for us anyway. 

I don't think Capricorns have anything to worry about, since they have been marinating in this stuff since birth. So don't fret Cappys - you've got this thing!

Saturn transits "grow us up". And the things we commit to during Saturn transits will not be easily discarded. That's why we have been ' working through' following our heart for the last year and finding our flock the year before to get us in a better position for this cycle.

If we have to be poured into concrete at least we want to have a nice view of the ocean (or whatever our heart answers to) and to maybe not be standing next to annoying a--holes.

If you are already exhausted and these words make you want to lay down, believe me you are definitely Saturnian enough - I can tell without even looking at your chart - to survive/thrive your way through this one

(since, like the girl who brings her laptop on vacation, you have been working when you could have been drinking mojitos on the beach - the mojitos may be gone now, but you won't notice because you weren't drinking them anyway).

This is excellent energy for laying strong foundations and building things that last from the ground up.

Saturn (authority) has just been through the Galactic Center and Capricorn (Saturn's sign) has been pummeled by Pluto for years (since 2008). Authority isn't what it used to be. The limit that has been holding us back - which was never really real to begin with isn't even there anymore. It gets clearer everyday that the emperor isn't wearing any clothes. The Saturn archetype we carry IS a new man even if he still looks like the same old man on the outside.

Within the collective we'll get to experience how this all plays out - there is much karmic reaping and sowing during Saturn in Capricorn. And yes, we have a front row ticket. AND yes, we are also working the ticket stands and sweeping out the stadium. Maybe cleaning the ladies room, but I hope to hell not.

On DECEMBER 21st, the Sun moves into Capricorn kicking off the Winter Solstice and we all start burning Capricorn fuel. I am not going to say the word serious again (although I guess I just did) - this is winter we are talking about - our ancestors froze to death in their beds if they hadn't prepared well. We probably won't, but please prepare well because you never know.

The next day on DECEMBER 22nd, Saturn offers one final test as he semi-squares Jupiter (in Scorpio) and the following day DECEMBER 23rd, Mercury (in Sagittarius and answering to Jupiter) stations direct. Do I hear a Hallelujah that this happens before Christmas! On DECEMBER 24th, Jupiter squares the North and South Nodes challenging our sense of direction.

Mars trines (brakes off) dreamy Neptune on DECEMBER 28th - I'm planning a movie marathon or long nap for this one. 2018 is going to be huge and we'll need it!

And yes, I realize I just flew through the last week and it is too big for that!

We will talk about all of this as we move through it with the dailies.

We will get through this together and always keep in mind that even in the coldest days of winter there is hot cocoa and warm blankets and good books.

Winter has always been a good excuse to cuddle/huddle together with those we love. There's that, too.

xo all