Mars Trine the North Node | the strength to keep going, where there is a will there is a way, fighting for what we believe in, what we seek is seeking us

Medieval War XI by deex-helios

Today we have Mars (in Sagittarius) trining (brakes off) the North Node (in Leo) at 14 degrees.

This is us taking action toward the unknown, untraveled horizon of our future.

It is time to believe (Sagittarius) in our dreams (that Pisces stellium!) and move toward what our heart wants. 

Let's take some action today toward what we want. Life can use whatever action we take to get us where we need/want to be. Trust this.

With five planets in Pisces (plus with Mars trining the North Node he is sextiling the South Node) there is a whole lot of energy on releasing. But then there is our Mars here. Lagging behind the group to keep the fire in us burning. We have the ambition/the passion/the optimism to move something BIG forward here. BIG as in BIG results, the action itself can be quite small.

So, although we might be tired or sad or processing some kind of loss or needing some quiet time - we also have this active energy pulling us forward today.

Asking us to be brave (Mars!) Asking us to believe we can do this thing (Sag!) Asking us to follow our heart and take the center stage in our own life (Leo!). This could again be connecting us back to last August's (7th-21st) eclipse window.

Actions taken now could have far-reaching consequences.

Remember we don't have to build a house (unless we are actually building a house!) - we just need to take an initiating action. We are putting what we want out there. Voice it. Move something forward. We are setting up a marker. We might drift a bit off course later in the week, but the marker will still be here. We are lining ourselves up energetically with the thing we are seeking (Leo, our heart) - which is seeking us right back.

I just wanted to toss up this quick post because most of the weekly is so different from this energy and I don't want us to miss it.


xo all

NOTE - Mars sextile to the Aquarius South Node tells us the OPPORTUNITY (sextile) comes through the Aquarian release - releasing the detachment (step in, get involved, connect your heart with someone/something), the distractions that are wasting our time/energy (what are we avoiding by needlessly checking Facebook every hour - THAT is what needs our attention), the fear of alienation that is holding us back, the over-emphasis on technology.

Astrology Forecast for Creatives | Week of February 19th - slow down, allowing instead of controlling, being instead of doing, love and light, waves of sadness, release, building an ark, water is everywhere but let's keep our feet on solid ground anyway, the end of the year

Dawning of a New Day by RaphaelleM

On Sunday, the Sun moves into Pisces joining Mercury, Venus, Chiron and Neptune and officially kicking off Pisces season (through March 20th).

Even though the Moon is waxing (growing) and all the planets are full steam ahead (for only a couple more weeks!) - which sounds very much like a "GO" energy, this stellium of planets in mystical Pisces complicates action by coaxing us into more dreaming than doing.

This much Pisces tells us to slow down, "be" instead of "do", and allow instead of control. If there is a choice between taking action and not taking action - other than Monday morning - I would cast my vote for letting things untangle themselves without any of our usual pushing and manipulations. When you have to step in, step in, but see what happens if you let the situation unwind itself a bit first. This may be simple, but it is far from easy.

What is out of our hands is probably out of our hands now anyway.

This much water could make us (especially those inclined toward appreciating B following A) feel unsteady as situations/our thinking, etc, tend to drift off course or toward a conclusion, in its own drifting way.

We may need to just stop sometimes and come up for air. We may need more sleep. We may need to cry. We may need to get lost in a movie and forget about everything for a few hours.

When you start to study/appreciate astrology you will find it gets harder and harder to see the year as beginning in the dead of winter. We can be very productive and ambitious during Capricorn season (January), but the reason our enthusiasm/energy seems to run out rather quickly is that Capricorn actually kicks off the final season of the year, not the first.

We need that ambition and production to survive the winter, but it can fizzle out fast!

With the Sun ingressing into Pisces we enter the final month of the astrological year - we might feel like old men now, like the winter trees tired of carrying the burden of snow - we might feel tired.  

Our energy is draining. Our reserves are low. With all this water, we will be more emotional. 

This is normal. 

We are facing a HUGELY busy spring and summer including the move of Uranus into Taurus - a stable space in everyone's chart that has never in our lifetime (unless you are 84 or older) held such an unpredictable energy. We are all headed into uncharted territory!

If you have any chance for rest or retreat now, I say take it!

With five planets in Pisces it could be better to allow things to move (and to not move) without trying to control everything. Not just because we are tired (although we might be, especially if we have worn ourselves out trying to control everything) and not because it is easier this way (although it is certainly simpler), but because our most vigorous and active machinations will probably not produce very much at the end of the day. Situations/people - things are going to go where they are going to go. Our attention and intentions will wander - and so will everyone else's.

In some area of life we will be left holding precisely what we need - nothing more, nothing less. Not an extra glove. Not an extra sock. Pisces is heaven and we can't take it with us.

We can dream big now and be idealistic about whatever all this Pisces is lighting up for us, but let's try to keep our feet (which Pisces rules) on the ground, too. Boundaries will be thin. Facts can be fuzzy. Slippery slopes are extra icy. We will all be wearing rose-colored glasses. Addictions will be oh so very enticing.

Think about the astrological pie chart for a moment. Pisces opposes Virgo (its polarity sign). Pisces squares Sagittarius and Gemini (the other mutables). Pisces trines (brakes off) Cancer and Scorpio (the other water signs). Pisces sextiles (opportunity) Capricorn and Taurus. This could give you a bit of a feel for how this Pisces stellium is interacting with your natal planets.

This is EXCELLENT energy to make art, to write poetry and create, to make music, to meditate and pray, to heal, to forgive, to be charitable and compassionate, to work with our ancestral inheritance, to look behind us. Just remember you wouldn't build a house with a paintbrush, so don't build a house now (don't take on too much). You will have put in way too many windows and forgotten about the doors. Plus there is the whole "hammering with a paintbrush" thing you would have to figure out.
 
On MONDAY, the Moon is in independent and energetic Aries and makes nice with Aries ruler Mars. You will be thinking to yourself, "what the hell is Cat writing about with all this dreamy Pisces - I am on fire! I can do this thing!". If you need to get something started this week Monday morning is the time to act. Don't sleep in.

Venus, at 11 degrees Pisces, will sextile Pallas (Taurus) and Black Moon Lilith (Capricorn). That's alot of female energy to get stuff done, too. Make a plan. Strategize. Take that 'outsider' energy and bring it into the boardroom - use Venus to prioritize compassion and love. The Moon will square Pluto in the evening - there could be an issue with an authority figure/goals/career or a power/control situation that is heating up. Things could get emotionally intense tonight.

On TUESDAY, the Moon is void until 2:12PM EST - don't start anything new or launch anything into the world that you would like "something to come of" during the Moon's void. The Moon met up with Uranus at the end of Aries while we slept so there could be something unexpected during the night or in the morning we have to deal with. After the Void, the Moon moves into comfortable Taurus where she is exalted. We will be seeking stability and focusing in on our resources, our finances, and what we have rather than working with something new. Today and tomorrow would be great days for a massage or to cook a good meal, take a long bath, etc. Anything that isn't totally comfortable is going to feel like we are walking on nails.

On WEDNESDAY, the Moon continues in comfortable Taurus.

This is a big day with Venus (women, love, money. beauty) meeting up with Neptune in Pisces. This is the 'dreamiest' energy we have had in a long time. 

This is love (Venus) and light (Neptune) - lots of light

It's transcendental energy. Rose colored glasses on top of rose colored glasses.

This is a delusional (Neptune) relationship (Venus). This is fantasy (Neptune) art (Venus). This is our money (Venus) slipping through our fingers (Neptune). This is our values (Venus) slipping through our fingers (Neptune). This is escaping (Neptune) into a love affair (Venus). This is soul (Neptune) love (Venus). This is money (Venus) that really does grow on trees (Neptune). This is love (Venus) without limits (Neptune).

Just don't run off with a stranger to Vegas and get married. Don't invest all your money in that stock your brother-in-law told you about - whatever sounds too good to be true now will be. But let's not miss this energy by sleeping through it - which will be very easy to do! Maybe we can run off to Vegas - just don't get married. Maybe we can toss a few bucks at that pie-in-the-sky financial deal because you never know, but nothing we can't afford to lose because we just might. Do something beautiful today - whatever that means to you. It will be hard to stay on task now. Your right brain is pulling your left brain over to the dark side. Just allow yourself to have the experience. I have a feeling this could bring up sadness for many of us (raises hand). We'll allow ourselves to sit with that, too.

On THURSDAY, the Moon is void during the entire workday. This could help to extend yesterday's "living the dream". Although maybe with the Moon's final aspect an opposition to Jupiter, we shouldn't count on it. The Moon enters Gemini at 7:07PM EST so we could have a mentally busy night, lots of conversations or errands - could be harder to get to sleep.

On FRIDAY, the busy Gemini Moon will be squaring just about everything.

It could feel like when Mercury goes retrograde for three weeks all rolled into one day. Double check stuff. There will be things we can't get a grip on or see clearly or stuff from the past or that we have lost. Isn't there a song about the "stars being stacked against you, so get back in bed". Yeah, well something like that. Except Gemini will be sure we are busy. Our bed will be empty. This would be a challenging date night unless you are looking for a "no holes barred" game of bingo or mini-golf followed by some arm wrestling.

The weekend is going to need its own post, so I will be back!

xo all

Mercury into Pisces - this is your brain on drugs

Illumination II by tdg-addict

The forecasting for the weekend's energies is HERE.

Today, Mercury ingresses from Aquarius into the sign of Pisces. Mercury rules our thinking, our communication, our ideas. He/she is considered in her fall/detriment in Pisces (because she rules Pisces polarity sign of Virgo).

Virgo's Mercury likes things clear and concise - she wants B to follow A and is sure things would move more efficiently if everyone would just dot their i's and cross their t's.

Pisces (ruled by Neptune and ruler of our collective 12th house) is the space where rules/boundaries are more fluid. B might follow A. But just as easily A could drift right on past B.

It is the space of imagination, universal love, our dreams, spirituality, our connection to each other through the ethereal realms and our emotions, the ways we escape, the things we do last, the things we put away, addictions, delusions, hospitals, prisons, addicts, victims, saviors, martyrs.

You can see how fast-moving Mercury could be a bit out-of-whack here.

So maybe our thinking slows down a bit. Our words drift off course. We started to say this and now we are saying that. The words that were so clear and crisp in airy Aquarius, don't come as easily because maybe we start feeling their impact on the other person now. Or maybe we start feeling like one of those old anti-drug commercials but instead of eggs - it is our brain frying on the sidewalk. 

Details will be fuzzy. Our thinking might be, too.

With Pisces ruler of the last house of the zodiac maybe a conversation comes to an end now. Our natal Pisces house - what house has Pisces on the cusp in your natal chart? - a space we are naturally inclined to more dreamy, Piscean ways - suddenly WAKES UP. Our attention goes there. 

This is wonderful energy for artists, poets, musicians, meditation, spirituality, healing. With Mercury (ruler of Gemini) in this universal space our words can cast even more powerful S-P-E-L-L-S - keep this in mind. And if you haven't done your New Moon intentions - there is still time - do it today!

Not such wonderful energy for to-do lists and more practical concerns. Double check communications. Re-read important papers. Give other people a break when their language isn't as concise as you would like it to be. When we just can't decide. Mercury in Pisces takes in so much universal information from the world that it becomes hard to take a singular stance. Our thinking becomes more intuitive. Cold facts are not so cold and hard decisions go limp. Lies might be spoken and take on a life of their own. That whole "alternative facts" thing applies.

It is the time to let our mental defenses down and just feel it. Or to guard against this very thing - depending on the situation!

We don't have to understand everything or figure everything out. Pisces dissolves. Pisces feels. Pisces is a water sign and heals through wetness - blood, sweat and tears (I would avoid the blood though if possible). If we want/need to cry, and even if it turns into one of those big old ugly cries that has our eyes all scrunched up two days later and people asking us what the hell is the matter - it's time to cry. You will probably not need me to tell you this though .....

If you really need to knuckle down mentally now it could be best to give Neptune some creative time - meditate, color, paint, etc, FIRST.

This isn't so much about lessening our verbal/mental standards, although yes, some restricting standards could be lessened - the Sun will be right behind Mercury! - as it is about loosening our grip!

Mercury will be in Pisces through March 6th when he/she moves into fiery Aries. She will go retrograde in Aries, so we will have to make the best of his time in Pisces for forward movement which won't always be easy (at least for a Mercury in Capricorn person like me)!

Her ingress into Pisces tonight will be just hours after she meets up with Sun at the end of Aquarius. So there is clarity - maybe a culmination - then we move on into Pisces.

We are about to be living the dream folks. xo

Weekend Astrology Forecast for Creatives | sobriety, changing the conversation, detaching from our detachment, walking through the fog, for some - clarity and a clear decision

sadness by rockthenations

FRIDAY'S compassionate, sensitive Moon (in Pisces) sextiles sober Saturn as we wake up here in the United States emotionally wrung-out in the aftermath of another school massacre.

Our eclipse story of what we know that we don't want to know .... the thing that happens over there that we don't want to look at, while Juno (as us) holds together Jupiter in Scorpio's excesses (corporate power and political greed) over here.

Except we can't look away now because there is here.

The eclipse (we also had a Mars/Pluto signature and Mars sitting on fixed star Antares - violence, rash, impulsive acts and extremist views in Sagittarius - higher education -  and we had the building square between Mars and Neptune that becomes exact on Saturday - should have seen this coming) in community focused Aquarius tells us that working together - this doesn't mean we have to be in total agreement with each other!! - over the next 6 months we can make change happen here if we don't become distracted and detached.

There are many ways to get involved. Find the one that speaks to your heart. We can't let ourselves get numbed out by so many impacts to our shell-shocked systems. Yes, this is about easy access to military weapons. Yes, this is about mental illness. Yes, this is about isolation and hopelessness. Yes, this is about a culture steeped in violence that doesn't want to see itself as a culture steeped in violence. This is about an old story of who we were colliding with a new story of who we want to be.

So who do we want to be?

Maybe what comes next could be Trump's powerful and unpredictable Uranus's most powerful moment (Uranus did rule the eclipse). The New York Post's (owned by Fox News CEO Rupert Murdoch, Trump's powerful friend and ally) unexpected headline and editorial regarding common sense gun legislation, Trumps credibility with the people who oppose any firearms restrictions, his natal Mars ability to fight (and get him what he wants from other people) and his natal Uranus ability to not be controlled. Trump's chart shows he isn't an idealogue. His views don't matter. He is a catalyst. He can't not create change.

The people (Aquarius) will have to work though. Hard.

Today is a good day to do something practical (Saturn) with our compassion, with our dreams, with our art, with our meditation, with our imaginings (Neptune).

Mercury conjuncts Juno and hits the eclipse degree exactly.

Old ways of thinking can be released. Commitments/contracts are up for discussion. Whatever the eclipse has brought to light - we will be talking about it. The best use of this energy, since it is happening in progressive Aquarius is to CHANGE THE CONVERSATION. If you are over-thinking something or still thinking about something that is over - catch yourself - hit the reset button - maybe go for a walk, get out of your head, turn off your phone. Usually it is the conversations we are having with ourselves that create the biggest roadblocks. Mentally move on.

On SATURDAY, Mars (in Sagittarius) squares Neptune (in Pisces) at 13 degrees.

This is our actions (Mars) diluted by foggy thinking, indecision, escapist tendencies. We are only a couple days past the New Moon Solar Eclipse, so we don't have all the answers. If we start to move in the wrong direction we won't have moved so far off course that we can't just double back and start over. The important thing now is to use that Aquarian energy in the best possible way - avoid distractions and detachment, use cool headed logic, where is your tribe/cause? Neptune can offer us heightened intuition now, so be paying attention.

This is a draining aspect, so let's give ourselves, and other people, a break here. A glass of wine goes a long way now so keep that in mind, too. It might be OK to drain one glass, but let's put the rest of the bottle away.

Also on Saturday, Mercury meets up with the Sun at 28 degrees Aquarius. This is a finalization aspect related to the last Sun/Mercury conjunction which was on December 12th - this is clarity. This is your answer. A decision is made. Save any big actions for the Mars/Neptune square to unwind over the next couple days.

On SUNDAY, both Mercury and the Sun move into Pisces kicking off Pisces season. I will write a post!

On Monday we'll have the Moon in Aries plus the Moon's ruler Mars trining the North Node of our collective way forward. I will write about this in the weekly - and this is leading us toward Venus conjunct Neptune on Wednesday. It will be an important week.

xo all