New Moon in Libra | September 28, 2019 - a major conclusion, a fresh start for relationships, doing it together, putting humpty dumpty back together again

On Saturday, September 28th at 2:27PM EDT, the Libra Moon meets the Libra Sun (at 5 degrees) giving us this month's New Moon.

Everything has been leading us - in the dark - toward that Sun. Unlike planets that get illuminated when they meet the Sun - the Moon, coming between the Earth and the Sun, blocks the Sun's light. The skies are dark. But, like the planets, when the Moon meets the Sun we get a new story. An emotional re-set.

Because this is happening in Libra we look to our natal Libra house (5 degrees) for the kind of theme we will be working with personally. Then we consider the general Libra themes (relationship, partnership, balance, justice, women, beauty) and we consider what Libra's ruling planet Venus is doing and where she is. And, finally, we look at the event chart for the time of the New Moon.

So, let's unpack the chart!

We can see the Sun and Moon snuggled up together. Mercury and Venus are past the New Moon. The news/information has come in. The conversation has been had. The impact on our relationships/money/values is visible, maybe starting to be felt. Our masculine/action energy, Mars, is behind the pack. Maybe it is too late now for certain actions. Our hand for this lunation has already been played.

Still plugging away in Virgo for a few more days. Mars met the Sun, and launched a new action cycle back on September 2nd (in Virgo) - he won't catch up to the Sun again until 2021!

(so, in some important ways we will be getting what we want by 'doing our Virgo' until THEN - making something smaller, focusing on the details, making a list, growing a backbone, doing our job, focusing on the details, taking care of our health, quality over quantity, doing what is right in front of us, washing the dishes, skipping the cake and eating the f'ng salad)

At the same time the planet Saturn is crossing the South Node (the past, our history, what is ripe for release) EXACTLY for the final time (third of three passes this year) in his home sign of Capricorn. Responsibilities. Commitments. People leaving as soul contracts complete. Karmic chickens coming home to roost. Weights that held us down, but also kept us grounded GONE. Large projects completing. The consequences of our past decisions/actions or in-actions (even from our past lives or the lives of our ancestors we have agreed to deal with). Something has reached the end of the line. We would have to be blind (and yes, that Jupiter/Neptune square we have had almost all year has kind of made us blind, so please no beating ourselves up here) NOT to have seen this coming.

Endings loom LARGE now. But keep in mind every ending is a beginning, too. The New Moon speaks of this most of all.

Libra is the sign of justice and balance and beauty and femininity and LOVE.

And Venus, ruler of this lunation is STRONG in her home sign.

Moving off her square to Saturn and the Nodes (reality check, karma, fate - in play, but separating) and now EXACTLY into a sextile (opportunity) with Jupiter, who is barely past his own square to foggy Neptune (again still in play, but separating).

The Venus sextile Jupiter speaks of good fortune/expansion. More love. Stronger connections.

The Moon/Sun are opposing Chiron at 5 degrees Aries. New beginnings have their roots in the projection of old hurts. Injuries to our self-esteem/ability to take care of ourselves or stand up for ourselves, to initiate or to get angry. We can see/feel our own woundings through other people now. This aspect, too, is separating.

The New Moon is also inconjunct Uranus, so a rock and a hard place with change. And this one isn't separating, but still to come. A shock. Surprise. Something unexpected. A need to adjust to more CHANGE.

Black Moon Lilith is conjunct Neptune in Pisces. This speaks of the ways the stuff we haven't wanted to look at/deal with factors in here. Or maybe we've been lied to. Maybe we've been banished in some way or it feels like banishment. Maybe our need to stand apart from the group (be independent, be special?) created a kind of cloudy thinking and caused our own exile. Regrets. Grief. Maybe feelings of isolation.

Sedna is conjunct Vesta in Taurus - look at all the bundles of two in the Libra New Moon chart - how appropriate for the sign that deals with relationships! Vesta rules what really, really matters (what we would stay up all night tending) and in Taurus speaks of our money/values/self-esteem, resources. Sedna is kind of the opposite in a way - the part of us that wants something to come easier than maybe it should be expected to come, that part of us who doesn't read the fine print. They are working together here.

Pallas is moving toward a trine with the North Node - she's in Scorpio now. Strategies with big money/with what we are merging/by going deep/by being honest - this is exact in a couple days.

And here's something interesting that I am not really sure what to make of - asteroid Isis and asteroid Humpty Dumpty (yes, there is an asteroid Humpty Dumpty?!) sit exactly with the New Moon today. Isis was the Egyptian Queen (married her brother) famous for putting her husband back together again (with some help) after he was literally ripped apart (limb by limb) by his brother. So, we have magical Isis putting her spouse back together (and then having a child with him or maybe putting him back together for their child - it's unclear to me) and Humpty Dumpty, who 'all the king's horses and all the king's men' couldn't put back together again .... draw your own conclusions here.

(Does this mean our efforts to put something/someone "back together again" are best accomplished TOGETHER rather than alone, like poor Humpty on that wall , I don't know, but I couldn't resist the opportunity to type the name Humpty Dumpty, so had to toss this in!)

An interesting chart. Plenty of air this month. Plenty of cardinal energy to start something new. Big endings. New partnerships/fresh starts. New love. Turning our focus toward the future. Take the time to think about, speak out loud and write down what you want!

MONTHLY AFFIRMATION TIPS for the Libra New Moon:

What house holds Libra in your natal chart?

This is our annual opportunity to restore balance here. Who/what do we want to partner with?

Get grounded - we have moved from an earth sign into air so this is important - always make affirmations from a positive place (positive meaning certain).

It is a good idea, since the New Moon is literally a blank sheet, to work in a clean, uncluttered space and maybe right after a bath or shower. Usually when you are alone, but this month it feels OK to partner up with this.

I find affirmations are most effective if I speak less on New Moon days so my words will hold more weight when I need them to.

I usually burn a white candle to help me focus and thin the veils between me and me. It also helps to channel ancestral energy a bit since I am always thinking as I move my story forward, their story moves forward with me.

Write your affirmations down by hand in cursive, we want the letters all connecting and flowing together. Speak the words out loud.

I used to write my affirmations on strips of paper and put them into a bowl of rice so I could mix them around every now and then with my fingers if things got stagnant. Then I decided to burn them. I have written them on rocks and buried them.

This month, I'm doing something I did a few weeks ago to line up with a specific thing that happened pretty effortlessly afterward -

I'm going to write my affirmations

(astrologer Jan Spiller recommends writing 10, but I have found myself stretching to do that or writing the same things every month which feels silly, so I have worked my way down to 3 which feels like a powerful number to me)

on my chalkboard while burning a white candle - when the candle burns out, all by itself - don't burn your house down - I erase the words first and then clean the blackboard with water.

Some people store them until the corresponding Full Moon when they have fully ripened (in this case during the Libra Full Moon next spring) and burn them then. Do what feels right.

I don't think it's terribly important what we do with our writings as long as we are not pulling them out and checking on them all the time. Setting intentions is like baking a cake - checking on how things are going just slows things down.

We are not handing a honey do list to the universe!

We are lining up with the universal energies of creation here.

And I wouldn't be sharing them with other people, which also feels like it dilutes the process or pulls them into our story. I was writing them on my blog for a few months, as examples for people, and that definitely wasn't helpful.

Then - and this is the important part - release your attention from your words knowing your intention is known.

Know these things are already yours.

xo all

Today's Astrology Forecast | September 27, 2019 - busy, productive, overwhelmed but good progress in the end, don't go blindly crashing into new spaces, finish up

Our organized and practical Virgo Moon is UBER busy and we might be feeling this, too -

try not to let a need for perfection make you cray-cray now -

she trined Saturn at 4;49AM EDT (productivity, progress, getting stuff done), opposes a retrograde Neptune at 9:21AM EDT (clouding our thinking, maybe hard to prioritize/organize, maybe someone else or an outside situation appears to be taking us off our game/away from our plan, loss, emotional endings), squares Jupiter at 1:44AM EDT (expansion, something is over-the-top, overwhelm) trines Pluto at 3:19PM EDT and finally goes void at 11:57PM EDT off a conjunction with Mars.

The trine to Pluto in the late afternoon is grounded and productive. Good for business. Good for dealing with power situations/authority.

Venus is inconjunct (rock and hard place) Neptune. This is tricky energy and even trickier with Black Moon Lilith (the outsider female energy) sitting with Neptune. We could be attracted to aspects of other people we aren't seeing clearly. Maybe these aspects don't even exist. We somehow can't tell what is valuable or are pushing the stuff we don't want to deal with under the rug. This could trip us up.

The New Moon tomorrow is opening all of us to new relationships and changes within existing relationships!

That post is NEXT.

For today, the Moon is dark. Don't go blindly crashing into new spaces. There is no support for making a big/new decision now - so don't make one. Finish up. Clear your inbox and workbench. 

xo all

photo by the talented thailinh

Today's Astrology Forecast | September 26, 2019 - seeing our wounding through another person, intense conversations, ambitious plans, secrets, power struggles, projecting much?, taking the higher road, honesty

The Moon moves into practical Virgo at 6:37AM EDT - we are nourished by the details, by taking care of our health, the day-to-day stuff, the odds and ends, the paperwork, our pets, whatever needs fixing.

Her only aspect today is a trine (brakes off) to a retrograde Uranus at 3:53PM EDT

(fertility, growth, production, moving in a new direction, changing things up, maybe we are committing emotionally to a new and more future-oriented plan).

The Moon is waning. Finish up what needs finishing up.

Mercury, in Libra, squares a retrograde Pluto (in Capricorn) at 7:49PM EDT. Intense conversations. Relationship drama. Ambitious plans. Getting to the bottom of things. Likely some big news in the collective - secrets exposed. Power struggles.

Verbal confrontations/manipulations.

Maybe a relationship issue. Maybe a challenging work/reputation in the world issue.

Best advice with this aspect is to really listen. Think before speaking/responding.

Do we really want/need to go there? Maybe yes. Maybe no. KNOW social niceties won't cut it. We have to be HONEST. Real. 

Issues might relate back to when the Sun met Chiron in late March. 

We may think we are being polite or nice, but our words can cut someone off at the knees (and we probably know we are not being nice or polite and we certainly don't always have to be). Of course, we can be on the receiving end of this, too. The nice words and cooperative gestures that are maybe not so much could be 1. seen/felt for what they really are underneath (Mercury in Libra can be quite passive-aggressive) and 2. a way to control us (or them).

Check any inclination toward paranoia/jealousy/feeling victimized. Our thinking can go into dark places now.

The Sun is also opposing Chiron in Aries, so we could experience this power/control challenge through someone else. Or maybe someone else is wounded in the same way we are and it stirs up our own injuries.

Pluto is stationing direct in one week (the death that was postponed/the mess that needed to be clean up/the purging/inner power and control). The next phase of transformation is about to begin ... are we ready for the truth? 

For today, take the high road.

And don't be surprised if there is tension no matter what you do or say - remember we won't be able to fluff this stuff off. The relationship is ultimately strengthened by dealing with these uncomfortable issues.

Truth win out.

xo all

photo by the talented mh22

Astrology Forecast for Creatives | September 25, 2019 - quite the mixed bag and an almost all-day void moon, get it done early

The Moon in Leo sextiles Venus at 3:35AM EDT (creative, collaborative, what are you dreaming?) then trines Jupiter at 10:21AM EDT (great for presentations, promotions, expanding our reach) and finally goes void at 12:13PM EDT until tomorrow morning, off a sextile to Mercury - so a good closing aspect. The Moon is a happy camper.

Unfortunately, Venus closes in on this week's square to Saturn - bringing tension/frustration and making today somewhat of a mixed bag. Also keep in mind the Moon will be void after lunchtime (EDT) so lots of things can happen that seem like a bigger deal than they actually are and we might find ourselves having to repeat what we do now later on when the Moon is connecting to something.

Squares to Saturn are reality checks. We had this last week with Mercury (news/information), now our relationships/partnerships/what we want/what we have are getting blocked somehow. Feeling the "no". With Saturn on his final approach to the South Node (Saturday) this will be around old responsibilities (we may or may not have lived up to), old authority.

Saturn/Venus can bring up situations where we just aren't feeling the love, aren't shown the money and/or feel the weight or isolation of age and responsibilities.

Since Venus (in Libra) is also squaring the North and South Node - we are blasted with cardinal energy to get us through this crap and in particular whatever is ending!

The past may look more secure/stable from our vantage point today and the future more vulnerable, but that is actually part of the illusion of Capricorn/Cancer right now.

Keep in mind the future has to be mutable (changeable) - this is cosmic law.  Our mind (and we have three planets in Libra, an air sign now) wants to know what comes next because it thinks B follows A and sees the world as a linear space. Any situation where the mind can't "see what is coming" looks like chaos to the mind (if your natal Mercury is in a mutable sign this might be a little bit less true for you).

Also keep in mind how the North/South nodes of the Moon work. The South Node (right now Capricorn and this is a collective theme, you will likely have a different South Node in your natal chart, but we all have a Cappy South node in play to a greater or lesser degree now) is a very comfortable space for us even when it makes us very uncomfortable - think of a child clinging to the leg of a cold or abusive parent. This familiarity, which our bodies are designed to crave, can become a problem in a mutable/expanding universe.

Natal bodies (like Mercury last week and Venus this week and the Sun and Mars later) moving in aspect to these stuck spaces create a kind of friction to get us unstuck.

Cancer and Capricorn are both about survival. They are our mother/father energies. Everything feels more intense, plus we have Pluto in Capricorn - very life and death.

At this time the "problem" is the South Node. Capricorn is all about achieving and winning and fighting to gain status and fit in, climbing ladders, meeting goals and having a career. Cappy (Saturn's sign) is all about the outer world. The problem comes in when we are too focused on the outer world that we neglect our inner world (Cancer, the mother, the planet Earth). Jumping from one rung to the next requires we be uber focused on the higher goal or we will fall (notice there is alot of falling now).

Life becomes work, work and more work. We start seeing ourselves from the outside instead of feeling ourselves from the inside. The answer to the North Node problem is the South Node "solution" - coming home, sometimes literally but more often to ourselves, nurturing ourselves, building a strong INNER foundation, allowing ourselves to be vulnerable, to be seen as more human, doing the more comfortable thing. When we apply the solution to the "problem" the outcome is REAL achievement (what Cappy wants, but doesn't know she wants), authentic progress.

You might notice the answer this year has not been to work "harder". The harder working person will still fall from the ladder, still have the ground shifted - sometimes very sharply if things are very stuck or we are too invested in something that isn't authentically ours. The answer is to nurture yourself, maybe take a vacation, spend more time with family. The paradox of the North/South lunar nodes is that when we do the North Node we get the gifts of the South Node. By allowing ourselves to be vulnerable we get the gift of stability and structure over time.

With Venus, who rules ALOT of good stuff (love, money, women, values, self-esteem, beauty) squaring the Nodes - this is something to keep in mind now.

Saturn is direct, but still standing still for much of this week.

If our new direction hasn't been settled on yet, decisions will be made this week. We have likely boxed ourselves in - relied too heavily on something that wasn't stable (and we have had plenty of time to realize this thing wasn't stable, but remember we are craving that familiar thing) - to get to the need to hit these hard corners. What are we going to do? Keep in mind the North and South Nodes - take care of yourself. We can't avoid responsibilities, but this is Libra season - we can get help and be helpful to others (within reason). We can find new ways to achieve balance/fairness/cooperation - and remember we are out of balance 99% of the time anyway, think about how we pick up one foot to move forward - this balance thing is FLEETING.

So, here is a thousand words to say - today is a mixed bag. The Moon is happy, but Venus is not so happy. We may have to make a relationship or financial decision or do something about something that is impacting our resources or self-esteem.

Look ahead. KNOW the future is more stable, more nurturing - even if to our mind we only see chaos and disorder. This isn't a linear journey. Jupiter is in Sagittarius and moving away from that fog-producing square to Neptune. Neptune is moving out of that over-blown square to Jupiter and toward a stable and opportunistic sextile to Saturn - we gotta have FAITH.

xo all

photo by the talented Anhen