Weekly Astrology Forecast | Week of April 20, 2020 - signs, roadblocks, hidden information comes to light, breakthroughs, resource issues, journey to pantisocracy (yes, that's a word), a New Moon and Pluto stations retrograde

This is another BIG week with multiple pivot points, challenges and opportunities. The beginning, the middle and the end of the week all have major aspects!

We'll flesh this all out with some dailies when we factor in the Moon, but here is most of what we are looking at:

SUNDAY - Sun enters Taurus
MONDAY - Sun sextiles the North Node
TUESDAY - Sun squares Saturn
WEDNESDAY - New Moon in Taurus (3 degrees)
THURSDAY - Ceres enters Pisces
SATURDAY - Mercury squares Pluto, Mercury conjuncts Eris, Pluto stations retrograde
SUNDAY - Mercury squares Jupiter, Sun conjuncts Uranus

Heads up that Mercury is doing this week, what Mars is going to be doing AUGUST THROUGH DECEMBER up to three times (Mercury just does this once!) - see that post HERE,

so we will get a heads-up this week via Mercurian information/communication, about what that AUGUST THROUGH DECEMBER Mars transit will likely be about for us personally and collectively.

We want/need to be paying attention!!

Keep in mind the days listed here are when these energies are most exact (EDT), but we could be dealing with them days before or after as they build and unwind themselves.

SUNDAY - We start burning Taurus fuel as the Sun moves into the sign of Mother Earth.

Taurus is the nuts and bolts of life. She rules our second house of everything important money can buy and everything important money can't. She rules food and nourishment. She rules the sensual touch that feels like love. She rules our resources - our money, the planet. She rules our self-esteem and values.

Taurus is the space in your natal chart that naturally encloses what we are here to nurture, preserve and grow. It may be a space we have a bit less passion and ambition because we most naturally feel the need to sustain what takes root here. A bird in the hand thing usually applies to the theme of whatever space Taurus occupies in our natal chart.

Taurus energy is cautious because the thing we are holding/carrying here is precious.

(it can also become the fear-based space where good things go to die - and then we carry around a bunch of dead stuff like a crate of rotted vegetables and wonder why we are so tired all the time, and smell like brussel sprouts - although not so much these days with chaotic Uranus in the extra bedroom)

MONDAY - The Sun (in Taurus now, but you know that already) sextiles the North Node in Cancer.  

This is a spotlight on the future. 

Pay attention to what comes to your attention now. A specific situation could beckon to us - "Here I am. I am your purpose." If you have a planet or point on or near 1 degree Cancer or 1 degree Taurus you will feel this energy strongest. Sextiles are not done deals though - some action on our part will be required.

TUESDAY - The Sun squares Saturn (in Aquarius). For some people this could color the beginning of the week with stress/tension/depression.

Limits/standstills. External pressure. Everything just feels like hard work.

Saturn in Aquarius is bringing us disruptive restrictions, but the Sun in Taurus likes things smooth and easy.

So, maybe a light shines on why we are being blocked and what obligations remain. Maybe a light shines on the way our fears have governed us into thinking and acting as we do.

The Sun's square to Saturn speaks of the need for patience/responsibility, but isn't all bad. Keep in mind Saturnian squares can build real, solid things over time if we make the effort to work with them - to give both the Sun (in solid, practical Earth here) and Saturn (in future focused, liberating air) their due. The kind of things that won't be knocked away easily are being built from the ground up.

The kind of things that can't easily be taken away from us.

WEDNESDAY - The Taurus Moon meets the Taurus Sun at 3 degrees giving us this month's New Moon - conjunct Uranus and squaring Saturn, it's a powerhouse - post to follow!
 
THURSDAY - Ceres (nurturing, loss, mothering, food, seasons of life issues, control issues) moves into Pisces today. Ceres themes become more emotional. Endings/losses within these themes maybe become more likely as Ceres moves into the final sign, but they can also be more gentle and gradual.

Ceres is going to station retrograde in Pisces, so other than a few weeks (end of September to beginning of November) that she retrogrades back into Aquarius, she will be in Pisces through the rest of the year. Since Pisces is the last sign, and can feel like a kind of winter and Ceres is about the seasons and our food - this is another indication issues like food shortages could continue and might get bigger this year.

SATURDAY/SUNDAY - Mercury meets Eris and squares Pluto (then Jupiter) as Pluto stations retrograde plus the Sun meets Uranus.

This is uber POWERFUL and impacting us for a couple days before and after. Let's unpack it.

Mercury meeting Eris (in Aries!) is likely to bring angry words. Lots of voices who haven't been heard are getting a voice this year. And they are pissed off. Any words we've kept a lid on will be boiling up.

The square to Pluto brings intensity - the feeling of life or death to situations - power struggles, manipulations, compulsions, suspicions. Challenges with Plutonian issues - sex, life/death, reproduction, financial issues, third party situations, power plays, the stuff that gets done behind closed doors and in the dark. We could be called to face our fears/deal with the stuff we don't want to deal with. Dark secrets could be spilled. Maybe something comes to light that was buried.

Pluto is standing still at retrograde and let's just say he is very .. dangerous. I'd say no dark alleys for any of us, but we know that already. If you are quarantined I will add - no dark hallways. Like seriously. Turn the light on.

As Mercury squares Pluto/Jupiter we (or someone else) could be speaking out with confidence and power, but with Pluto's retrograde there could be some kind of immediate pull back or about face. The pressure could also hit hard and then quickly ease off.

At the same time the Sun meets Uranus (in Taurus). Taurus is about our food supply, too, so this again could be bigger issues there coming to light. Taurus also rules our money and resources. The Sun makes something clear/brings this into the spotlight. Changes to our income/to what we perceive as valuable/to our self-esteem are possible.

So are personal/collective BREAKTHROUGHS.

Collectively this could put a spotlight on medical/scientific/future leaning breakthroughs! A brilliant spark is lit. 

Pluto stations retrograde. 

Pluto's retrogrades are times to do some deep inner work. Fear that is ripe for release will come up to be looked at/felt. Fear can arise through uncomfortable situations, but we can see it for what it is, ask ourselves if it serves us any longer and decide what to do with it.

Really deep insights are possible while Pluto is retrograde and he is particularly powerful when he stations. 

Pushing against these seemingly never ending blockages, trying to over-control stuff now and swim upstream (you don't look like a salmon to me) are going to be hard going. Outworn controls, rules and power systems get re-looked at. The big-money bailouts will almost certainly be back in the news and get some re-visions.

After this weekend, the feeling of life and death urgency should start to ease up - the Plutonian death cycle becomes an inside job as we go back over old control issues, financial maneuverings, power struggles, mergings and purgings.

This 'death postponed' period doesn't mean the virus is going to just disappear, this is just a retrograde, Pluto will be direct again in October.

I have to think though the planet of 'death' stationing retrograde during a pandemic means something and we have both Saturn and Jupiter stationing retrograde over the next couple weeks, so we shall see what happens.

There is just no way to know ...

Since the discovery of Pluto (and the nuclear age he ushered in) we have had the power to destroy ourselves and have been charged/gifted with the duty of becoming a world incapable of using that power. We rise or we fall. Whatever it takes. We are entering a new realm of what is real - powered by the karma of our collective death anxiety and a little fellow named corona. We do it alone AND we do it together at the same time.


xo all

With Mercury (thinking, communicating, information) going to be uber active this week, why not ponder the word "pandemic" itself and also Mercury's son "Pan" and any mythological significance to our current challenging chapter.

The word pandemic makes me think of panic and pandemonium, of course. But also pantries and panhandlers and pancakes. Pancakes, right?

And, of course, pantisocracy (who knew there was such a thing!) - society where all are equal and all rule

The difference between a pantisocracy and a democracy is the difference between - all equal and all rule vs rule by the people - which at first sounds like the same thing, but we know democracy really becomes "rule by the majority" and not even the majority, but by the majority's elected representatives, and we can see how this isn't really working out anymore no matter who we elect.

Imagine a pandemic leading to a pantisocracy? I can!

The word pandemic itself comes (according to Websters) from the ancient Greek pandemos, which means pertaining to all people.

And Greek leads us to the mythological God 'Pan' and of course 'Pandora' and her opened box of all sorts of ills.

Let's start with Pan.

Pan, was the son of Mercury (Hermes to the Greeks) and, possibly Penelope (?), but this part is a bit fuzzy. He was a strong and fast half-man, half-goat God and lived in the wild, mountainous land of Arcadia.

(Cappy goat)

Pan spent his days wandering the forest, playing his pipes, chasing nymphs and napping. Although usually sort of an amiable fellow, to wake Pan from his napping, was known by the people of the area, to be not such a good idea.

He would let out an angry and blood-curdling scream that left anyone within earshot with an overwhelming sensation of fear and anxiety. PANIC. In this way he protected his forests and his own forty winks.

(protector of the natural world)

It is important to note their fear of Pan wasn't because of anything Pan did after that soul-shattering scream - he didn't proceed to chop off their heads or call up tree roots to drag them down to Pluto - this was about the feelings he stirred in them - he SCARED THE HELL OUT OF THEM.

Sometimes he even SCARED THEM TO DEATH.

(death anxiety, the only thing to fear is fear itself)

Another interesting thing about Pan is his connection to Midas.

Midas was the king who foolishly, after saving Silenus and granted one wish by Dionysus, asked for the power to turn anything he touched into gold. This worked out well for Midas for about a New York minute, until he tried to eat and drink, and then foolishly touched his own daughter turning her into gold, too

(makes me think of Trump, of course, but Midas is uber activated in all of us now as our bodies fill with anxiety-filled survival hormones and we realize the 'gold' we thought would keep us safe is looking more and more like fool's gold in the harsh light of 2020).

When King Midas begs him to be released from this death dealing golden touch, Dionysus (the striker of hard, but compassionate deals) agrees, but only if he washes in the source of the river Pactolus, knowing for Midas this humble pilgrimage alone and unaided is what’s really required.

(we've had this whole personal and collective 'humbling' theme going on with the South Node in Capricorn)

After some time in the forest, we assume spent embracing solo survival methods, Midas meets Pan who befriends him and helps reconnect the King to his wild, earthy roots.

(Cancer North Node, strength through vulnerability, coming home to ourselves)

We could stop here, and maybe we should, because there already feels some connection to our current circumstances, but since the Pan/Midas story has another chapter (although I'm not quite sure what to make of it just yet) - here it is.

Some years later, Pan who by now has mastered the pipes he invented from reeds, foolishly challenges Sun God Apollo to a musical contest in which one of the judges is King Midas. The other judges all declare Apollo the winner, but Midas votes for Pan (maybe out of gratitude for their days in the wild, maybe because he truly loved Pan's music more, who knows), angering Apollo who gives the king embarrassing "ass's ears" to improve his hearing.

In some tellings, Midas calls out to Pan for help, and Pan turns away.

(?)

And guess who was conjunct the North Node in Cancer (our way forward) back in January when the WHO was reporting a new virus and China was reporting their first death from that virus - a retrograde asteroid Pan!

The next time Pan meets the North Node will be on May 27, 2021 in Gemini ....

We'll work this out some more in another post and see what we can glean from Pandora ...


xo all

photo by the amazing oprisco

The Astrology of 2020 | part V - Mars comes home ... with a mission

Since Mars is going to retrograde in his home sign of Aries this year for a long transit during which time he will square the Cappy planets he mega-impacted in March, sending our normal lives hurtling into the stratosphere (and yes, this stratosphere could look something like the inside of a 100 year old center hall colonial with a leaky roof) - it seems like a good idea - knowing what we know now about what is unfolding this year - to take an early look at that.

So here we go - on June 27, 2020, Mars will move into his home sign of Aries for the first time in two years

(yes, even Mars is sent to his room this year).

Aries is the energy we incarnate through - it is us being born. Pushing our way into our very existence. Starting out all alone. It is our hero's journey. Our "I am".

In Aries, Mars is strong, willful, passionate, impulsive - and at his most Mars-y

(which is something like ballsy only more like BALLSY - I am talking bowling and not tennis here),

and because of his upcoming retrograde, he will be in Aries for THE REST OF THE YEAR.

Mars is the first planet outside our Earth's orbit. Our other inner/personal planets, Mercury and Venus are closer to the center, and, so, visually they travel with the Sun - they never get too far away - but Mars is a fellow who likes his independence.

He isn't constrained by the Sun in the same way Mercury and Venus are. Ruler of brave and independent Aries he does what he wants.

In Roman mythology, Mars was the son of Juno and Jupiter (in Greek mythology he was the God Ares). We think of Mars as the God of War, because he is, but his ancient role - as a fertility God and protector of crops and animals (herds), might be something for us to keep in mind as we talk about his upcoming retrograde.

In our natal chart Mars rules our natal Aries house and is influenced/and influences the sign and house he calls home. Mars is about our will, our ambition, our action, our passion, our physical self, our selfishness, our rage. His house placement and rulership lets us know what battles we are going to face in this lifetime - the spaces where, if we are not assertive and active (without being self-centered, irritable, impulsive, angry assholes), we will find ourselves steamrolled or in continued stress until we take action/stand up for ourselves/have COURAGE.

The last time Mars went retrograde was in June 2018

(in Aquarius - he moved back and forth over the South Node back then - this was that big summer when something might have ended/never got off the ground/didn't quite work out).

He won't be going over the South Node this time, thank goodness - the South Node will have moved on into Sagittarius, but he will be squaring that Cappy pile-up. Ouch!

My post from June 2018 during his last retrograde is HERE and included these words:

"Life is a chessboard (and a box of chocolate, too, of course) and this year we are being pushed and drop-kicked toward the positions we are most needed for a successful collective outcome in 2020. This year is the bridge year - this is why it feels like there is no ground beneath our feet! And yes, I realize there are no bridges on a chessboard (and no drop-kicking) - I need some help with these metaphors and my brain is not cooperating. Physically, mentally and emotionally - we are moving toward where we, and our energy level, needs to be. It can be exhausting, especially when we are dealing with the worn foundational issues we have ignored/procrastinated and the spaces where we have become super-glued to anything."

A couple important things will happen during Mars' visit to his old stomping ground.

He is, as we already said, going to station retrograde - so he (as us) will cover some of this territory THREE TIMES. And a retrograde Mars, isn't his usual self.

Pushy, world-centered activity tends to bite us in the butt when Mars is retrograde (this might not be true for people born when Mars was retrograde - they could get some kind of butt-bite-protection during retros), so, it's not the time to start a fight, the person who starts the fight will surely lose (or be the big learner if we look at it that way - which is why we won't always be able to stop ourselves from launching that grenade!).

If instead we turn our focus inside and allow our actions to flow from the passion initiated from that this will be a much easier/smoother transit for us personally.

AND, since Aries squares Capricorn, he is going to square Jupiter, Pluto and Saturn (because Saturn's retrograde is going to pull him back into Capricorn at precisely the right/wrong time) THREE TIMES. Sorry to keep shouting. I blame the cold weather.

We are going to talk through all of this as we move through it, but know this, coupled with a strong Eclipse season where things can flip around on us, means summer is NOT business as usual.

So, we will get to a certain point with something and need to go backward. We will have to re-do something, get to do things we missed doing the first time around - maybe experience second chances with opportunities/people/situations we missed. With Mars ruling our passion - this could be about rekindling an old passion. Life will not be all hand-washing and Netflix, I can promise you that.

Aries rules men, so expect men (maybe especially young men) to be out of sorts this summer with Mars moving backward (appearing to from our position on Earth).

Some of us who never hesitate will be hesitating (or pulling the trigger too soon) and others who normally need a push will be out there pushing. And again, this happening during a very tumultuous time, with the South Node moved into Sag and many people likely wedded to very entrenched beliefs, well, Mars retrograde in Aries could stir up some TROUBLE.

Mars kicked the pandemic up a notch when he connected with the Cappy planets in March. He will square the Cappy planets in August, September/October and December. Tension. Frustration. Blockage. These will all be needed and necessary, but could be stressful. So, this is a heads up. What house does Aries rule in your natal chart? What is the theme of that house?

The squares will roll out something like this:

MARS SQUARE SATURN - September 29th (Mars retrograde, Saturn direct) - Saturn definitely has the upper hand. We keep our cool and live to fight another day or we lose. This is unyielding - a denial of aggression/assertion. There is a "no" here. Roadblocks/limits/traditions serve a purpose - sometimes we need to go around, crash over or plow through them and sometimes they keep us from falling off the cliff. On the other hand, Saturn can win the battle and lose the war if he overplays his hand.  

MARS SQUARE JUPITER - (in mythology this would be a son/father battle) August 4th (Mars direct, Jupiter retrograde), October 19th (Mars retrograde, Jupiter direct) - this is going to amplify the Mars/Saturn/Pluto stuff. We could overestimate/exaggerate our strength/power. Move too fast. Use too much force or maybe too little. Jupiter is going to amplify the August and October squares - but, keep in mind Jupiter's basic beneficial nature. He is protective. He gives us faith.

MARS SQUARE PLUTO - This time we get an extra hit. August 13th (Mars direct, Pluto retrograde), October 9th (Mars retrograde, Pluto direct) and December 23rd (both direct) - Mars is powerful in his home sign and Pluto is, well Pluto is Pluto. Expect intense competition and unbridled ambition. Manipulations. Obsessions. Jealousy. Physical power struggles. Excisions/surgical procedures. Our power could be challenged or we could be the one doing the calling out. If we are "waked" this is the time to think about why this situation is "triggering" us. If we are repressing anger/passion/strong urges - here's where the lid comes off. We could be mad (Mars) at the truth (Pluto). We could be battling (Mars) for power/control (Pluto). We don't want to be ruthless or under-handed, but we might have to stand up for ourselves.  Avoid unnecessary run ins with the boss/authority because THEY WILL WIN. If we are the boss/authority then avoid making other people feel threatened because WE WILL LOSE in the long run. And we are playing a long game here. Keep this in mind. Mars/Pluto is like a bully aspect, but it is also about having the courage to SURVIVE.

As that final square unwinds itself by January 2021, the ground will have been scorched and there will be no going back. Very deep issues have been challenged. Something, at least sort of put to bed.

The sheets will undoubtedly be in a sweaty pile though

(that whole rising from our death beds thing this year).

Now during all these squares Mars is going to be conjunct his sister Eris. She is our angry outsider energy, the terrorist energy, the whistle-blower, the loose cannon, but she is really about challenging us to adapt/transform - so we will have to see how she factors in during these transits.  Again this year the need to bring everyone to the table.

(Eris has a discovery story that amazingly matches her mythological personality. The astronomer who discovered her first wanted to name her Xena. When he learned that was a made up TV thing, he then wanted to name her Persephone (after Ceres daughter, but that name was taken by an asteroid), and so apparently determined to name what he thought would be the 10th planet after a strong female, he settled on Eris.

THEN instead of announcing her as our 10th planet, the astronomy community decided to just demote Pluto - demote PLUTO?! - and call Eris, Pluto and Ceres dwarf planets. If we think about the Eris myth - about her being the angry outsider treated unfairly and enacting her revenge - we can see how this series of events - her being the name third chosen, not being granted planetary status and finally pulling Pluto down with her - while pulling up Ceres - exactly describes her mythology!)

It's hard to say what this will mean with the virus, our financial situation, the political divisions, protests, etc, but it almost certainly means none of these problems are going to go down easy.

Most of us have very deep soul memories of abandonment, lack of roots, not being able to take care of ourselves, being an outsider, dying alone, power struggles with authority or through being the authority, terrifying endings, death anxiety.

There is a need now to confront these energies. This is all being triggered. We have postponed this confrontation for lifetimes and now face the impossibility of running away from this stuff. There is nowhere to run. Keep in mind the big picture - we are building a bold new world, the fear that keeps us riveted in place will not be allowed to be part of this new structure.

BIG moves (by authority, by us stepping into our responsibilities for ourselves and for the group as our karma with trauma plays itself out) are coming in this chapter.

The good news and there is ALOT - Mars moves into Aries and sextiles Saturn (while he is still in Aquarius), AND he sextiles Jupiter and Pluto in the preceding days (from Pisces/Capricorn), so they all start out with their groove on in mid to late June - in harmony. 

Obviously they have their differences later on, but starting out in an opportunistic position is good news. Also Mars will have multiple sextiles with the North Node in Gemini - choices, ideas - lots of options and opportunities.

Life is changing. The only way to work something into the collective experience is to squeeze it down into our personal lives. So, yes, we are - should we survive the pressure and I am guessing most of us will - the lemons turning into the lemonade. Cue the red solo cup.

Mars will station retrograde on September 9th at 28 degrees Aries. He will get all the way back to 15 degrees on November 15th.

So, 15-28 degrees of the cardinal signs - Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn - are Mars retrograde hot spots. People with planets in here will be feeling the heat of this the strongest.

Keep in mind Mars transits are FAST. This passionate/intense/maybe angry/maybe ambitious energy will interact with our natal planet for a couple days and then unwind BUT because of the retrograde this will happen THREE times so provide more of a lasting and substantial impact.

Although squares are kind of irresolvable - just due to their basic natures being so different - squares are problem solving aspects. They require evolution. They are uncomfortable because we are set up to crave what is familiar, but moving through the challenges/surviving the challenges/evolving - always makes us stronger.

The squares will weed out the weak responses we are collectively and personally enabling between those Aries and Capricorn energies.

We have to keep in mind we don't really want either side to actually win - one side left drawn and quartered actually hurts both sides. We need the residual stress/the restlessness. These energies always need some unfinished business.

Forewarned is forearmed. especially since we are talking about Mars.

That's one of the goodies we get from our mundane astrology musings.

So, for example, if you are a Scorpio rising just knowing Mars is going to spend an inordinate amount of time in your 6th house later in the year - house of health - would mean this is a good time, right now, to put extra energy into being healthy (and I guess this is a bad example because we are all doing that!). Also, since this is the house of work and our daily activities (and pets) - plan on giving Mars something to do here to keep him busy at the end of June and through the rest of the year. We can't plan for everything, and we wouldn't want to anyway, but we can learn to work with this stuff and go with the flow.

The squares will challenge all of us. Personally and collectively. Mars in Aries for such a long time means we will all be working with our initiative, our passion, our anger! Long, hot summer? A big YES.

I will add to this post as we move along and have a better view of what all this means!


xo all

next up part VI - Venus retrograde in Gemini - this one comes sooner than the Mars retro but with his squares I wanted to take a look at that first

photo by the amazing alltelleringet
 

Today's Astrology Forecast | Friday, April 17, 2020 - time to exhale, the courage to do something differently, good weekend mojo

Let's see if I know what day it is today .... month? season?

(and while our neighbors have gracefully covered their spring plantings with tarp and canvases to protect them from last night's freezing temps - of course, we, the people who own at least a dozen tarps, but couldn't find any, covered our entire yard with upside down trash cans in various sizes, colors and states of disrepair - why do we own so many trash cans I have asked myself for years, well now I know! Classy and practical. Seriously, though, spring please come back - wth!)

This weekend looks like much easier energy and we could use it!

The Moon goes void at 10:34AM EDT off a harmonic sextile to the Aries Sun. She will be void until 2:29PM EDT when she exits Aquarius, which has been kind of stressful the last couple days, hasn't it, what with Mars and Saturn hanging out there now. "Bye-bye boys". The Moon exhales and slides her tired feet into the dreamy waters of Pisces.

That waning sextile is Aries/Aquarius - so emboldens our independent spirit, harmonizes the new with the unique, encourages us to try something different. Sextiles require a little bit of action to make them work (unlike trines that just kind of glide things into place, but the efforting part actually makes them more opportunistic). With Aries courage may be a prerequisite. Of course, everything seems to require courage right now, doesn't it? The Sun is at the very end of Aries, we know how to do this.

We will channel our great-grandma Daisy and get on with it.

Keep in mind that Void Moon - not the time to start anything brand new or push anything out into the world we need "something to come of", although that sextile should make the void period even more productive than it usually is. We can get alot done. Time gets stretchy.

We do have Saturn inconjunct the North Node and Mercury opposing Juno. So there could be some stressful conversations or information within relationships/commitments/contracts and some responsibilities or limits interfering with our home/family/real estate/home business/family business/mothering situation.

Never completely clear weather ... not quite spring just yet. 

But the Moon into a fellow water sign and Mercury starting to make nice with Venus should more than make up for any upsets.

Do things that make you feel good.

If you need to get something done with a project/financial situation - get on top of that.


xo all


photo by the amazing BirdSophieBlack

Today's Astrology Forecast | Thursday, April 16, 2020 - more clarity, an overstuffed mailbox, arguing for understanding, needing to listen, needing to be heard

Rumor has it, it's Thursday.

The Moon, in Aquarius now (so we are nurtured through groups and causes/by being different/liberated/leaning into the future), met Mars at 1:41AM EDT. The Aries Sun has moved off his square to Jupiter and toward his trine with the Galactic Center (seat of creation/homing signal).

We are asked to listen/to think. To go deeper. The ice is thinning and skating on the surface of things is dangerous.

The North Node is preparing for her move into dualistic Gemini.

Everyone is going to have to choose

(and be responsible for the consequences of those choices).

We are no longer blinded by "busy-ness" and "business as usual" to the glaring reality of cause and effect (karma). 

The ways we have been distancing ourselves from each other for years, the masks we have been wearing - for weeks, yes, but also for lifetimes - forests (lungs of the planet) destroyed, the death anxiety and pain brought to our animals and into our food supply through factory farming, other people's children in cages (now our own children locked up), etc, etc - if reaping what we sow gets any clearer and comes any faster, I guess I could be expecting a bumper-crop of lemons in my mailbox any day now..

(note to self - buy some stamps, save the post office)

In the iChing, "arguing" follows waiting.

I studied (only briefly) the iChing before astrology and it took me a long time to get this one. I vacillated between impulsive moves I liked to call "intuitive" and sitting on the fence growing wrinkles and gray hair. But when you think about what breaks the "waiting" - it is always tension/frustration - in astrology this would be a square.

We argue for what we need/what we believe in. We can see the reality of this now in our governments and state houses and kitchens and bedrooms and mostly in our own heads. The only way out of the "waiting" is this kind of direction of inner momentum outward.

This isn't a winning vs losing thing. If we can't win and we probably can't - then what can we do?

The iChing teaches "arguing" is a time to be centered in vigilance, but NOT frozen into a combative  and defiant posture. Heart open. Alert to the potentials. Keeping in mind always we don't know what we don't know.

When you first begin to study your own astrology chart you start looking at the squares. The challenges. You say to yourself, "holy sh*t, I am a freakin' mess here." But, over time you see the squares for what they really are - the dissenting impulses that inspire you to action. Your back against the wall spaces that give you something to push away from.

Arguing is the beginning of the beginning. If there were a beginning, but there really isn't.

Choices are coming and, so the arguing begins and with Saturn in Aquarius and Jupiter in Capricorn, our choices are going to be limited and also limiting.

Keep in mind Aquarius has two rulers - one is Saturn himself, the other Uranus. Stability and chaos. But, keep in mind, too, that chaos (Uranus) was the father of stability (Saturn) and Saturn was the father who ate his own children. Everything isn't always how it seems. Have I said the North Node in Gemini is coming? On the one hand minds are going to be changing all over the place. And on the other we will get even more entrenched into the South Node Sagittarius position of thinking we know more than we do.

For now, maybe think about this "arguing" thing. What are we arguing for? Instead of digging ourselves into a position and defending it to the bitter end, we could argue for the sake of understanding the truth.

Don't forget we are all in this together. Even at times when it feels like we are all alone!  

Sometimes we need to rest and sometimes we need to be shaken so our resting energy is provoked. Maybe we are like that bottle of ketchup and would get all clumped up without some agitation, although I think the bottle I found in my fridge yesterday is from 2012.

(May 2012 is activated now, along with many other time-frames, but this is one that might ring a bell for you?)

Imagine a life where everything went our way all the time. Would we really want that?

And we know we don't, because if we collectively did, we would have that. This doesn't mean we want whatever is happening to us to happen to us - but the more we focus on what we don't want, the more "don't want" there is to focus on.

Spiritual thinking. Quantum physics. Common sense.

xo all

photo by the talented schude

The astrology of 2020 | part IV - major pivot points ahead, revolutionary prepwork, staying flexible, holding the light

I have put off looking too far ahead with everything that is happening and tried to just focus on the BIG picture. I sometimes think I should be looking/thinking ahead, but then feel my energy sucked into a great big void when I sit down to actually wrote about it.

We are being asked to embody a whole new program and it is going to take some time to download!

Our lives are like those little hourglasses spinning around on the screen.

It's not the best time to be looking. But let's look a little bit ahead anyway, keeping in mind you need to use your discernment because it is a time of looking within and who really knows how ineptly I could be viewing all this right now with my own stellium so activated .... :)

Anyhoo, here goes.

At the end of April, a HUGE shift will begin as Pluto stations retrograde. Normally Pluto's retrograde station isn't something we can personally feel (unless it is hitting an important point in our natal chart), but when the planet of death (and rebirth) starts backing up during a pandemic, I think that is going to mean something.

He stations retrograde squaring Mercury (in fiery Aries!) - suspicion, angry words, verbal manipulations and power plays - we are heading for something BIG here.

And just days before mercurial Mercury takes over the North Node!

APRIL 25TH - Pluto stations retrograde (death postponed, outer transformation becomes inner transformation, mess to be cleaned up before he stations direct in October) *
MAY 5TH - NORTH NODE INTO GEMINI, SOUTH NODE INTO SAGITTARIUS - this is also the trigger date for next month's first Eclipse
MAY 7TH - Full Moon in Scorpio (which will be ruled by that retrograde Pluto)
MAY 11TH - Saturn stations retrograde* (rules/limits relax, endings postponed)
MAY 13TH - Venus stations retrograde
MAY 14TH - Jupiter stations retrograde (expansion ends)
MAY 17TH - Pallas stations retrograde

By the middle of May, FIVE planets/bodies will be retrograde (!) including Saturn, Pluto and Jupiter - the energies that kicked this whole thing off - see January HERE

AND the North Node, our best path forward, will be out of Cancer (home, family, our inner life) and the South Node, what we we have stirred up to see what should stay and what we should leave behind, out of Capricorn (work, our outer life). 

So, by mid-May, this first phase of the pandemic will be shifting gears. And this shifting could involve alot of grinding, stops and starts, but should involve a backward momentum - death postponed, time to clean up the mess, rules relaxed, endings delayed.

(Just as I write this, hubs who is going to need a serious YouTube rehab when this is all over - for I have no idea what reason, but synchronistically shows me a video of a guy in a brand new, fancy race-boat backing away from the off-ramp into the water and suddenly putting the boat into forward motion and slamming back into the ramp. "I guess he has wrecked the bottom of his new boat", I say. "And his engine", he adds.)

Let's proceed with a slow and steady backing up plan here. Let's get turned around before we hit that throttle.

Now, because the medical establishment thinks this virus could 'return' in the fall/winter

(and the news media have saturated our consciousnesses with this, and keep in mind, they also think and the media reports the virus may be unaffected by weather and not disappear in the summer, so as to cover all their foggy bases, no doubt)

AND because the astrology could be said to support this - since we are talking about pivots/a slowdown coming through retrograde periods, it is possible this is just what will happen.

Sooner or later the retrograde planets will start moving direct again and we will be back where we were in the spring, although older and wiser.

Jupiter stations direct mid-September (bringing him back to mid-May), Saturn at the end of September (back to mid-May) and Pluto the beginning of October (back to the end of April).

So, by the time Jupiter meets Pluto for the third and final time, near 11/11/2020 (!) - and we have ALOT of other things going on around that time - we could be back in the soup. Again.

Of course, it is also possible, because, here in the United States, this date is one week after the U.S. election - we will not be back in the same soup, but an entirely different pot.

In the United States this is all happening in the United States second house (our money, values, self-esteem) and in opposition to our natal Mercury (so driven by health, Mercury being the ruler of Virgo the sign of our health and driven by the media/news/information, Mercury also being the ruler of Gemini, ruler of information and ideas not all of which are accurate or true), and is part of our upcoming American Revolution Part II (Pluto return 2022), so all bets are kind of off with this one.

Keep in mind, Plutonian transits - and we just had a collective doozy of a Plutonian transit - Pluto/Saturn - and are in the middle of another Plutonian transit, this second one a three-peat - Pluto/Jupiter (April, August and November) - are PERMANENT. 

There isn't a magic wand that will be waved and put us back where we were before. 

Pluto wipes away "back there" - it simply doesn't exist anymore.

This will mean different things to different people.

Whether we are going to rise from our death bed's sweaty sheets or lock the doors and take to our beds forever is entirely up to each of us.

This "permanent change" (and I am not talking about masks and 'social distancing' here) isn't a totally bad thing and, yes, we might have to stretch and reach for the things we can label as good for a awhile.

And if we do this we will find them because they are and will be EVERYWHERE.

We'll talk about this more as we move through this.

*****

Now, this summer is going to have THREE eclipses, so there is alot of change and alot in flux throughout the summer. Eclipses have alot of staying power, work forward and backward and move through cycles.

Eclipses are cosmic course corrections. Things get eclipsed out or out of our way. We get a re-set. Things come to light or to a conclusion. There isn't much we can control about Eclipse energies.

Lunar Eclipse Full Moons (two of the three this summer) are a bit different than regular Full Moons because they are happening on the Moon's South Node - the Moon is full but its light is blocked by the earth's shadow. So although things are still concluding and 'coming to light' other stuff is hidden, too. Nothing is exactly as it seems. Sometimes we think we have failed and then something flips on us. Or we are patting ourselves on the back for a big win and the client calls with revisions that require many hours work. Sometimes much bigger, more important things are obscured in the shadows.

If we are looking for things to settle down - that probably isn't going to happen.

JUNE 5TH - Full Moon Lunar Eclipse (15 degrees Sag) squaring Mars - I sometimes find Eclipse events happen pretty much exactly one month before or after the actual Eclipse date - so this takes us back to May 5th when the Nodes change signs, there could be a dramatic event then, and it takes us forward to July 5th which is that third-wheel Lunar Eclipse in the middle of Capricorn possibly giving this Eclipse extra oomph, so all three dates are POWERFUL indicators for change.
JUNE 18TH - Mercury stations retrograde (in Cancer right in the middle of the eclipses!)
JUNE 21ST - New Moon Solar Eclipse (1 degree Cancer, hours after Summer Solstice)
JUNE 23RD - Neptune stations retrograde
JUNE 25TH - Venus stations direct
JUNE 27th - Mars enters Aries - where he will be, due to his upcoming retrograde, FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR. And during which time he will square Pluto three times - August, October and December. Keep in mind that Pluto moves very slowly and is going to be within a couple degrees of his January position all year, so any contact with Pluto activates the Saturn/Pluto AND it activates the Jupiter/Pluto.
JUNE 30th -  Jupiter conjuncts Pluto (for the second time, this is the conjunction where they are both retrograde)
JULY 5TH - Full Moon Lunar Eclipse (13 degrees Capricorn)

So, June, and into the first week or so of July, just looks like a WILD RIDE - almost anything can happen!

You can see there are just too many pivot points to make anything more than educated guesses about what will happen.We are just going to have to hang on loosely.

Just like we could see at the January 2020 eclipse that 'mama-bear standing all alone against the world' and we could see 'time running out' at the January Saturn/Pluto pow-wow, but we couldn't see the collision course of all of this resulting in this exact pandemic/time-out.

I am posting this as the Sun squares that Jupiter/Pluto and as Mercury meets with Chiron. This is tricky energy. And we are still in this 'waiting' space. Mercury/Chiron here is kind of like we have an idea of who we are and then we defend it on a mental level. And then here is life - this stellium at the end of Capricorn/beginning of Aquarius - pushing to change us. Demanding we interact with life on life's terms and not our own.

We are heading into a nodal shift to Gemini/Sagittarius - we want to be holding on very loosely to our ideals and our ideas. We have to be flexible. We have to trust (Jupiter!) that we have what we need for this time we are living through. We have to trust this will all work out in the end (because it will, this is assured - this doesn't mean we get to sit this one out and not participate though, this has clearly been brought home to all of us in the last month).

In the iChing - ARGUING follows waiting. And 'arguing for something' makes a much better beginning than it does an ending. We'll talk about that in tomorrow's post.

xo all

I have had a few people write me about conspiracy theories and about Bill Gates global agenda with vaccines that can be tracked inside our bodies (or ability to change the world through tech/science, depending on how you look at it and both are true probably), so I took a look at his chart and will do a full post about it. It is very interesting with mega-ties to these times. He has a natal Jupiter/Pluto conjunction - huge power potential here - and it exactly trines Neptune, so no limits. His natal Chiron is at 0 degrees Aquarius, Uranus is on his ascendant and his Nodes are Sagittarius/Gemini, so opposite the new Nodes we are heading into. A person with a natal Jupiter/Pluto conjunction in a year when we have three Jupiter Pluto conjunctions is going to be mega-activated. Mega-powerful. One problem I see ahead for Bill's plans - for good or ill - is that nodal opposition because Hillary had that when she looked like she was going to win and then didn't and that natal Chiron opposing his important Uranus - his Achille's heel at the important degree of 0 Aquarius, another uber activated degree, especially at the end of the year when Jupiter meets Saturn. On the other hand that could be his ace in the hole depending on what he does with it. We will take a better look! In the meantime try not to get too caught up in conspiracy theories - true or untrue we can't tell - and even if powerful nefarious forces are at work rest assured God/the Universe/love is stronger than any of them and knows what he/she is doing with all of this!

photo by the amazing Brooke Shaden

Astrology Forecast for Creatives | Week of April 13th 2020 - power struggles, resistance, proof, words hurt, words heal, the end of the week gets better - hang in there

There is lots of Aries energy this week, folks - which means action, initiative, passion, impulsivity, anger, relationship challenges, opportunities to stand up and opportunities to stand alone.

The Sun is squaring off with that January activation point now, currently the home of some powerful players - when people tell us to stay "safe" we can add "and sane" - it seems four letter "S" words are our friend now.

TUESDAY - Sun squares Pluto
WEDNESDAY - Sun squares Jupiter, Mercury conjuncts Chiron
SATURDAY - Mercury sextiles Venus, Mercury sextiles Mars

BEGINNING/MIDDLE OF THE WEEK

We start the week with the Moon moving into sober Capricorn. This can sometimes feel heavy/depressing anyway, focus us on "winter"/what we don't have, and now adds to the pressure of the Capricorn planets.

We are nurtured by stepping into our responsibilities, work, planning, limits, setting down rules. Taking care of business. Money in the bank and food in the cupboard - we are nurtured by the stuff we have earned.

The Sun (almost through his Aries journey) will square Pluto and then Jupiter. He is also squaring the activation point of January's mega Cappy pow-wow energies. At the same time Mercury is meeting up with hurting/healing Chiron.

This stuff isn't for sissies.

The solar squares are magnified pressure/power/fear.

Something is illuminated. PROOF of what the Jupiter/Pluto 2020 storyline is giving us. 

(this PROOF will be different things to different people - some will see the dry "facts" we are provided with as "truth", others will see conspiracy theories actualized or dissolved and others will see the light they are holding "the positive in what is happening" spotlighted in deeper ways - there are not any right or wrong answers here - this is a process and not a test - everyone is needed and playing an important role now) 

Squares are tension/frustration. Aries/Capricorn is our individual action/passion/purpose vs authority/knowledge that our personal power can be stripped away from us.

Power struggles. Resistance. Tangles with authority will most likely not go our way.

Keep in mind Pluto is always death/rebirth - transformation through the 'dark night of the soul'. We evolve through loss - merging/purging. There isn't any way to hurry this stuff along or away. It just is. Pushing/manipulating as a way to hang onto something that is "dead" (ie no prana, no breath, no life-force) creates tension/frustration.

Avoid impulsive situations where you can be manipulated and check yourself before using these dark powers.

Know with these energies triggering, arguably, the biggest activation point of our lifetimes -  

we need to be strong and brave because we are going to have to face the dark/our fears/any spaces that lack love.

(I have had a few emails from people asking if the astrology looks like this upside down world we are living in is a conspiracy. Life on planet Earth doesn't allow us to have all the answers. Are there illusions/power plays/manipulations here? Undoubtedly. But, keep in mind, this is still a free-will planet and a space of polarity. We can't always control what happens to us, but we do get to control how we respond. We can choose our focus. There are always going to be times when the dark/the fear (because our operating system is really only love and lack of love/fear) gets to play its hand. Just keep in mind, these are transits, ie transitory. We are forever, but these circumstances aren't. We are co-creating a totally different world - maybe what looks harsh and hard is actually the gentlest way to get us there.)

Aries squares can stimulate situations where we are forced to step up and assert ourselves.

At the same time we have Mercury (in Aries now) meeting hurting/healing Chiron. 

Sharp/impulsive language can activate our deepest wounds and insecurities.

Although painful, there are words that probably need to be said/heard. Conversations that need to happen. Information that needs to be looked at.

For some people Mercury will trigger hurting/healing through a sibling/local community or transportation situation.

Still, check your language. Mercury in Aries can use his/her words as weapons. Be thoughtful (ie thinking about what you are saying and the way you are saying it).

Chiron in Aries forms a natural opposition to Libra (and this is part of the Aries/Libra polarity dance) - this would be a time when the other people in our lives, and the people we meet, who have the energetic frequencies that can easily re-wound us (trigger our early wounding/past life wounds/familial karma), will do just that.

Also, keep in mind with Chiron in Aries - no one is coming along to save us. As the Hopi would say - we are the ones we have been waiting for.

We are going to have to pull our own fat asses out of this well. 

When we are the one being triggered (and we will know we are being triggered because our emotions will be out of proportion to what is being said) we can step back a little - that Mars in Aquarius - and think about why this triggering in us.

Why are we so mad/hurt about these words?

We can have compassion for ourselves. Know we are safe/loved/worthy. Know this is just what we needed to hear right now to see what we need to see/feel what we need to feel.

As we heal ourselves we heal everyone else, too.

At the same time Venus (who is now walking degrees in Gemini she will walk two more times) makes her first of three sextiles (opportunities) to Black Moon Lilith - right now at 8 degrees Aries. Maybe we are attracted to something outside the box now. Something taboo. This is a long story-line that takes us into the end of July. With Venus in Gemini, our values are changing. Again there is the need to bring everyone, and every part of ourselves, to the table this year.

By the middle of the week the Moon will make her way into Aquarius (with so much going on at the end of Cappy/beginning of Aquarius, she avoids any void and we don't get any void Moons until Friday which is unusual). We can emotionally take a step back to process what is going on.

Now we are nurtured through our groups, through the goals that bring us into connection with other people, by allowing our freak-flag to fly, by the new and unusual, through technology and Aquarian/Uranian people. We will talk about the Moon more in the dailies.

END OF THE WEEK

The end of the week looks BETTER. The Moon moves into nostalgic, emotional, intuitive and imaginative Pisces. We are nurtured through art, music, the past, our ancestors, what is behind us, stuff we can't touch, water, actual Pisces/Neptunian people, maybe nurtured through our rose-colored glasses, but sometimes we need rose-colored glasses and our masks are fogging our glasses up anyway. 

Mercury (almost to the middle of Aries - she is flying, people!) sextiles both Venus (in Gemini) and Mars (in Aquarius). Our words/conversations/information are now HELPING us attract and take action on what we want. 

There is flow. There are opportunities here.

Back with the big picture timelines - which I know I have been promising for-evah - and the dailies!

xo all

photo by the amazing oprisco