Today's Astrology Forecast | Wednesday, April 1, 2020 - protecting home and family, stir crazy, what needs to be attended to, being a part of it and not apart of it

The Moon is home in Cancer now, nurturing us through home, family, mother, mothering, real estate, home business, family business.

At 6:21AM EDT, she squares the Aries Sun giving us this month's First Quarter Square.We talked about this in the WEEKLY and I will recap here:

"Maybe here is home/family vs our independence/what we want to do.

Fueled by the Sun in "let's get something started" Aries, staying at home/feeling tied down can get challenging now. With the Moon in Cancer this will be emotional. We want to be safe/secure AND we want to be able to do our own thing/take risks/do something.

The words 'stir crazy' come to mind. Squares require adjustment."

This can also be about protecting our home or standing up for someone in our family.

After the dust settles, the Moon moves toward a lovely trine with Mercury and Neptune. Our words/dreams meshing with our internal needs/maybe with that home or family situation. This is pretty late in the day, so might be influencing our dream state more than our waking hours.

Tomorrow our Cancer Moon will move into her monthly challenges with the Cappy planets including Jupiter and Pluto as Jupiter makes his way to his exact connection with Pluto on Saturday (first of three). 

Venus, at the very end of Taurus - bags packed for Gemini (and don't worry that she is leaving her exalted position into a space where she is less strong - because in Gemini she will be trining the Aquarius energies and we have Saturn AND Mars in Aquarius now - she is going to be in Gemini for a LONG time with her upcoming retrograde, she knows what she is doing!) - goes outside the Sun's path tomorrow. Venus "out of bounds" means she is no longer constrained by the usual 'rules' she operates under. Old rules about money/love are bypassed. It's a new world now.

xo all

We talked about the "not knowing" and the "confinement" HERE near the time of the last Full Moon and now that we are at the First Quarter Moon of the next New Moon cycle, maybe we can use the wisdom of the iChing to move our "being" forward a bit.

The iChing is one way our inner guidance can come into resonance with the present moment and although, of course, we don't need the iChing to do this, it can be helpful to give things a kind of 'container' based on powerful ancient wisdom.

Using the Chinese oracle - 'not knowing' turns into "waiting" and confinement turns into "the well".

Waiting sounds passive, but it is really about a state of non-resistance.

We, wait, like a child for the rain to stop, or like a farmer, for the rain to come. 

"Waiting" isn't meant to be inactive. We can dream of what we will do when the sun shines again or we can dance/prepare for rain - but we cannot force this stuff to happen. We can only attend to it. This requires wisdom and patience.

When we are fully present in waiting - our attention is like a beacon to the universe.

HERE I AM!

Not because we are actively working on something necessarily, but because our thoughts and our groundwork show our faith. If we don't lose sight of the possibility of something BETTER we invite the possibility to come nearer. Waiting requires consistence. It's a practice which means it needs to be practiced. Now, because waiting means often no progress is visible it is challenging for our patriarchal conditioning/the muggle world to see/feel this as an active thing.

But we magical thinkers know it is.

And sometimes when the iChing gives me "waiting" it means actually waiting on someone/something - performing a service

- so instead of waiting on what we had in mind (the sun or the rain) while we stare at the horizon, we go inside and take care of someone else.
Waiting also meant "official attendance at court" back in the days of King Henry VIII - whose Saturn/Pluto in Cappy cycle we are repeating now.

So, what needs to be attended to? Where/how do we need to show up?

The other energy at this time is the "well", which follows "confinement" in iChing and is our deepest/most reliable resource of nourishment.

In ancient China they would move an entire city to a better location when things had gone bad. They moved everything except for the well. We can't carry our well with us either. We have to dig a new well when we reach the place we are headed. The Chinese did this together.

So, confinement - which brings us to reaching downward (Cancer) instead of upward (Capricorn) means turning inward, so the "well" follows.

Now, digging a new well is tricky work. The cleanest, most life-sustaining water is found very deep in the earth and it will take a steady (and committed) hand to raise those first buckets. And, of course, there is the whole 'fall into the hole and break your neck' thing that cannot be denied when we get to this kind of uncharted territory as the "well".

If you could see down an old Chinese well, you would see a frame of logs had been built at the bottom for drainage and support. And, of course, if the well has been built in soft silt the walls will be fragile and need to be lined. This, like "waiting" requires commitment, patience, consistence and probably won't produce an immediate reward.

But we need to build this "well" .. pretty damn well. 

We are starting a new 500 year cycle - we don't want to be drinking dusty water for the next few centuries!

And sometimes when the iChing gives me "well" it is something like a "spa" that is needed - a time of self-care. And sometimes it comes up when I am feeling like it would be safer to cover the well - hold myself apart from the receiving and giving out of fear of losing my freedom/autonomy or fear of showing my vulnerabilities. But we can only tap into the "well" and become part of the flow when we experience the real essence/potential of the situation - we have to allow ourselves to be a part of it and not apart of it.

Staying trapped in the pain of our "if onlys" keeps us from recognizing the clean water that flows freely beneath every situation. And if we cannot imagine our "well" which seems in such poor condition right now, becoming a permanent, dependable, shared resource we will not be inclined to invest so much of ourselves into it to do it right in the first place (we need vision people!) and we will end up with sticky mud.

There is an ever-present resource we can draw from here. What can we do to realize its potential?

I hope something here is helpful. The best use of many people's time now will be "going within". Raising our vibration, not falling into the fear-story, helps all of us.


xo all

photo by the talented bliXX-a

Today's Astrology Forecast | Monday, March 30, 2020 - all day void moon, rest, pray, meditate, new goals, new actions, fuzzy facts, bringing everyone to the table

Today's Moon in Gemini goes void at 11:10AM EDT off a square to Neptune. She will be void for the rest of the day.

It's not the best day to start anything brand new, but good for routine actions, errands, projects - time gets stretchy. So do facts. Good for writing projects. Conversations with siblings. Avoid gossip. Avoid fatalistic information/conversations. It is important what we are feeding our minds now. Words are portals - we want to be lining up with the best possible timelines. Meditate. Pray. Any aspect with Neptune strengthens our pipeline to the ethereal realms - your angels/muses/guides/ancestors/everything you need to feel/know now but have forgotten - are standing by. Ask for help.

Mars (our personal ambition, initiative, passion, anger) leaves the sign of his exaltation (Capricorn) for airy Aquarius today. Mars isn't always as effective in Aquarius because everything can't be so easily nailed down through ambitious action, BUT he is out of the sign of the South Node (our past) and into the sign of the future, and gets to use his ray guns and techie stuff, plus we can think before we act now. The only problem might be over-thinking before we act.

With Mars (our warrior, but also our hero) in group-focused Aquarius - expect our actions to be focused on what is best for the group and some outliers (because Aquarius is also the energy that can step away from the group and go her/his own way) to fight against the group if their individual liberties are threatened. Both sides will be right. Keep in mind always, our need to bring EVERYONE TO THE TABLE THIS YEAR - even though, the table is, yes, six different tables at a zoom meeting.

Mercury leaves his shadow today and starts walking new degrees (she/he is still in cloudy Pisces though).

I looked back at the news from the day Mercury went retrograde, link HERE (drag down to that picture of Fauci) - Dr. Fauci is stating the risk to the U.S. is 'very minimal', and now, as Mercury finishes his retrograde journey, Fauci is saying to prepare for hundreds of thousands of deaths. Until Mercury gets out of Pisces - mid-April - I wouldn't take anything he says as "truth". Not because he is lying, but because he doesn't know either.

Stock your house for a couple weeks. Stay home (North Node in Cancer). If you are in a job that is necessary and you must work, stay as safe as possible. Take care of yourself. We are all just doing the best we can. We don't know what we don't know.

Stay hydrated. Get extra sleep. My acupuncturist, who is kind of a miracle worker from China, says to eat three cloves of garlic a day right now. Take some long walks in the fresh air. KNOW you are safe - because remember we are safest when it appears we are most vulnerable now - we have talked about this for more than a year and we are in the home stretch of the North Node in Cancer.

We are building a brand new world. How can we take care of each other without losing ourselves? That will be one of the important questions of our time. The world doesn't need a hero. The world needs 8 billion heroes. We are the heroes of this story.

xo all

photo by the talented la-child and a little more leonard ...

Astrology Forecast for Creatives | Week of March 30, 2020 - crisis = opportunity, limits, frustration, from earth to air, emotional intensity, compassion, massive money shifts, massive control moves

TUESDAY - Mars into Aquarius, Mars conjunct Saturn
WEDNESDAY - First Quarter Moon Cancer
FRIDAY - Venus into Gemini, Mercury conjunct Neptune
SATURDAY - Jupiter conjunct Pluto

Another uber important week of the year, folks!

The week starts out tense/frustrating with roadblocks/limits, but lightens as we move toward the end of the week with more options and information coming to light.

We finally get some air this week after weeks of solid earth and water (mud!), but we also lose stability/grounding as two inner planets move out of their exalted earth signs.

Then on Saturday, it's the biggie - Jupiter meets Pluto - the first of their three-peat conjunctions this year - for a major new chapter that carries us all through to the end of the year!

On MONDAY, we have Mars leaving Capricorn (the sign where he is exalted) and moving into airy Aquarius. He hasn't been in Aquarius in two years - are you ready for some increased motivation and energy Aquarius/Aquarius rising?! Our Aquarius house themes WAKE UP and begin a new two year chapter.

This is GOOD NEWS because now we have our warrior energy in the sign of the future instead of the past. Fresh interactions with other people/new ideas/new projects.

Our actions become more innovative/more outside the box. We lean into what is modern/future focused. We just need to be cautious of us or someone else using the future/the group/our smarts/the internet/astrology/detachment as a weapon/ammunition in a fight. 

Keep in mind though - it was Mars activating the Cappy planets that kicked into full attack mode much of the world's battle with this virus, so now Mars (as us) can use Aquarian super-powers (which yes, includes social distancing/detachment) to fight this thing over the next couple weeks  (although there could be some bureaucratic red tape) because Mars doesn't muck around. New treatments/testing/technology assistance are all coming.

Mars is our initiative, our action, our passion, our anger. Aquarius is the space in our natal chart where it's never going to work to follow the crowd just for the sake of fitting in. Our rough, uncomfortable edges are there for a reason. Mars comes into this space saying, "I am going to do my own thing and I am going to do it RIGHT NOW".

On TUESDAY - Um, not so fast buddy. 

Me thinks our hasty fellow neglected to read the fine print in his Aquarian travel brochure because Mars immediately runs into a stop light/a limit/a rule in the form of "serious as a heart attack" Saturn

(for many people, since Aquarius also rules our collective experience, group karma/trauma, this will be about the quarantine/limits we are living under).

This will be most strongly felt as tension/frustration/pressure by people with planets or points around 0-2 degrees of the fixed signs - Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius, but everyone else will feel it, too. 

Impulsive people who are already antsy will be fire ants in their pants antsy.

Mars' move into freedom-loving Aquarius could exacerbate/intensify the stresses of 'social distancing' that came along with Saturn in Aquarius and motivate us to find new ways to connect, maybe through technology, etc. - because our power, with both Mars and Saturn together here, is going to be with our groups and the ways and goals that bring us into connection with other people.

(At the end of this week Venus will lighten things up as she gets into Gemini and starts trining (brakes off) Saturn, so maybe something in our life that gets held up in the beginning of the week, could start to move forward at the end of the week.)

Remarkably at the Winter Solstice on December 21, 2020, Jupiter is going to meet Saturn at exactly this same degree - 0 Aquarius. So whatever we have going on now will connect us to the end of December mega-powerful energies and the biggest new chapter of the Age of Aquarius!

As Mars moves through Aquarius he is moving toward a square with Uranus (at 5 degrees Taurus) which will be exact next week. 

A square with Uranus often indicates some kind of sudden break (although it's actually been building for a while). This could be a break-through, break-down, break-up. Maybe we are the one initiating this or some situation/person/event outside of us is. Either way something SNAPS.

Mars will be in Aquarius until May 13th. Mars/Saturn is also about strength and patience and discipline - if you want something done right and done well, give it to someone with a Mars/Saturn in their natal chart - we will have access to this energy now, too!

On WEDNESDAY, the Moon in Cancer will move into a square with the Sun in Aries, giving us this month's First Quarter Square. For many people, again with so many of us having a group experience under quarantine it is very easy to interpret these aspects - here is home/family vs our independence/what we want to do.

Fueled by the Sun in "let's get something started" Aries, staying at home/feeling tied down can get challenging now. With the Moon in Cancer this will be emotional. We want to be safe/secure AND we want to be able to do our own thing/take risks.

The words 'stir crazy' come to mind. Squares require adjustment.

Keep in mind the Aries Sun is very self-sufficient and self-absorbed and Mars/Saturn can get kind of cruel and we are building toward an important Full Moon in Libra (relationships/other people) next week. Mars will be off Saturn by then and squaring erratic Uranus. I would expect relationship imbalances to be amplified. These are unprecedented times (and now bringing up our larger stories about safety vs going after what we want) and for many relationships, something's going to blow.

On FRIDAY, we have Venus leaving Taurus (the sign of her exaltation) and moving into airy Gemini. So we have two, of our three, personal planets leaving the sign of their exaltation this week and moving from earth into air!

Because of her upcoming retrograde, Venus will be in Gemini until August 7th! We are going to be back and forth over something major here, especially if this interacts with planets and points in your natal chart. What is the theme of your Gemini house? That will be the field of play.

Gemini Suns and rising signs get more attractive - both easier on the eye and able to attract what they want and need. Whatever house in our natal chart holds Gemini hosts a visit from lovely Venus now - bringing blessings/protection/kindness/fairness and making it easier for all of us to attract what we need in that area of our lives - especially beginning now until she stations retrograde on May 13th.

We are most attractive (use our Venus) through Gemini (our mind, words, flexibility, humor). It's a good time to be talking and communicating with lots of different people about lots of different things.

Venus in Gemini is about variety. In the mutable air sign (Gemini) the themes Venus rules - love, money, value, self-esteem, women, beauty - get more light-hearted. There are quickly more options available. There is also more duality - this is the space where our heart is saying one thing and our brain is saying something else.

We could suddenly recognize a mismatch between what we have and what we want. Or maybe what we thought we had (during Venus in resource-rich Taurus) could be up for grabs a bit.

With Venus in Gemini life becomes more of a flirtation. Communications are more casual, more lively and humorous. It's a good time to set aside any existing constructs about what we like and what we don't like and stay open to new experiences, new people and new situations. This isn't the best energy to make an important decision (regarding our Gemini natal house theme or Venus ruled love, money, self-esteem, values, women or beauty) or commit to something permanently. She is kind of paving the way for the North Node - which moves into Gemini on May 5th.

Venus, like Mars earlier in the week, quickly moves into aspect with Saturn. But unlike Mars with his tense/need to adjust square - here's where we get the smooth air trine. Something (love, relationship, money, our values, beauty, self-esteem) falls smoothly into place and we'll have this trine in play (waning) at the time of the Libra Full Moon (Venus rules Libra), so that will be good as we move something toward a culmination/fulfillment next week.

The biggest downside to Venus in Gemini - is that she is now answering to foggy Mercury in Pisces, so this could add to the emotional impact of the stuff we have going on now.

At the same time Gemini's ruler, Mercury, is meeting Neptune for the third and final time. She/he is finally out of shadow and covering new ground. Yay! Information comes to light. Clarity returns - this will be especially true after we get past the Full Moon on April 8th. And when Mercury finally gets out of slippery Pisces (the sign of everything we can't see including this tiny little corona fellow) and moves into 'fresh start' and fiery Aries on April 11th, we have another pivot point.

On SUNDAY, Jupiter meets Pluto at 24 degrees Capricorn (bringing us back to December 2007), and obviously these guys have been within spitting distance for awhile now (although I hope no one is actually spitting right now).

Now, they are going to meet THREE times this year and strangely enough, because this is all magical and amazing - because of the timing of everyone's upcoming retrogrades, all three conjunctions will also be conjunct Pallas (wise warrior woman who uses strategies and patterns to win) and square Eris (disruptive outsider, showing us the need to bring all parties to the table or face the consequences).

There are many ways this could go and the easiest to see from my perch on Sunday morning within the collective at this time is - smart strategies based on patterns that create disruption regarding 'massive wealth', as in re-distribution and 'massive control' probably as in controlling the masses. 

There is also the possibility that the growth of something ends. The death of expansion. Equally I have seen this as a kind of 'luck runs out' aspect if there is some kind of mess that hasn't been cleaned up (we are dragging around something dead that is stinking up the place, etc).

Pluto is always the death of something, but he's not the death of everything.  

Having our cosmic Santa Claus meeting up with the Lord of the Underworld in Scrooge's house

(but also at a time when Scrooge isn't home, this is important because if Scrooge, ie Saturn, was home this would be a whole other story, but he's not and it isn't - thank goodness)

is making for some interesting times for us humans!

This is also about the power (Pluto) of faith (Jupiter). What do we have faith in?

This is a major pivot point toward our collective destiny folks. In our personal lives this can be about colossal success/confidence - especially in regard to our careers/work in the world. Increased power. Rewards. And we get this aspect three times this year! Really the whole year we have access to this!

We'll talk more about this in the dailies.

I am sorry I haven't gotten back to the big picture post. I have been under the weather, but will get it finished this week. Some dates that will likely be important to what we have going on now are:

• March 31: Mars conjunct Saturn (0 Aquarius)
• April 4: Jupiter/Pluto conjunction #1 (24 Capricorn, both planets direct)
• April 7: Full Moon at 18 degrees Libra (squaring the 22-24 degrees hot spot, opposing Eris), Mars squares Uranus
• April 23: Mercury hits 22 Aries (squaring that hot Cappy degree)
• June 29: Jupiter/Pluto conjunction #2 at (24 Capricorn, both planets retrograde)
• November 12: Jupiter/Pluto conjunction #3 at 22 Capricorn (Pluto retrograde)
• December 21: Jupiter/Saturn conjunction (0 Aquarius)
• August, October & December: Mars will be at 22 Aries three times during his retrograde cycle (squaring that hot Cappy degree)

And besides this we have multiple major summer Eclipses, the Nodes changing signs and an important Venus retrograde!

There is just no way to 'predict' what is going to happen here. We can see there are many, many pivot points when things can change, but until we get to the Winter Solstice - this cycle we are in now doesn't really "end" - this doesn't mean the virus will last until then though. The U.S. has a crazy election cycle ahead and every country has its own situations of "crazy" that could certainly work with any of these upcoming transits as well as any pandemic can.

We are in a time of unknowing. We just can't know.

By the middle of April, when Mercury is in Aries, we will certainly have much more information and after she/he squares that 22 Cappy degree around April 23rd - we will have quite a few weeks when the energies settle down ...

Back with a big picture connecting some of the dots here.

xo all

photo by the talented Asilwen

Today's Astrology Forecast | Friday, March 27, 2020 - practical action produces results, financial stability, smart money moves, the growth of what really matters

Now the week is really looking better.

The Moon is in Taurus, the sign of her exaltation. Her only aspect today is an opportunistic sextile to Mercury (in Pisces). Good news. Stabilizing news. She has all nice aspects tomorrow, too!

Keep in mind we have the Sun in exaltation AND the Moon in exaltation now. This dynamic duo combination won't last, so if there are moves you need to make, this would be the time.

Venus (ruler of Taurus) is trining Jupiter - this is good for financial decisions, getting our money organized. I know things are chaotic, but there are choices/moves we can make now. With Jupiter in sober and earthy Capricorn this is about practical stuff. There won't be oodles of choices, but there will be SOMETHING. Maybe money that is owed to us can be collected now. Maybe something can be sold. Call your mortgage company and see what can be done to ease your burden over the next few weeks. Call your credit card companies (a friend had their mortgage rate reduced by 1% saving her $300 a month plus all her credit card payments delayed for a month with just a few, fast phone calls). Make the effort. Money saved is money earned, too.

Stay on top of stimulus programs/state programs - and if nothing applies to your situation, be thankful/grateful for those who are being helped.

Count your blessings and those cans of beans.

Doors that were previously closed can open now.

This isn't about grabbing for something out of fear - this is smooth energy and things will fall into place if you take practical action.

This is all RE-INFORCED by Venus (at 23 degrees Taurus - she won't be on her home sign of Taurus forever folks and we need to take advantage of this) trining Pallas in Capricorn.

Smart strategies with our resources. Making the most of what we already have. The growth of what we have. Wisdom. What is most important right now? Again this is Cappy/Taurus, so realistic/practical. Trines create flow - the brakes are off. Collectively this is our money/values/resources and our career/life in the world/authority.

What house is ruled by Taurus in your natal chart? What house is ruled by Capricorn? What are the themes of those houses? They always work together, but now we have the two most beneficial planets and our wise warrior energy Pallas lined up here to help us!

There is potential here. The Moon is waxing. Take action.

xo all

Heads up - Venus will move from a trine to Jupiter into a trine to Pluto. This is more good news. Improved financial stability. The growth of what we really value. If you have any planets/points from about 23-25 degrees of the earth signs - Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn - you will feel this strongest.

I have a big picture post almost done - hopefully I will have it up tonight!

photo by the amazing Natalia Ciobanu