Astrology for Creatives | Week of April 27, 2020 - the conversation changes, limits, rules, responsibilities, sudden insights, new ideas, surprising information, those rose colored glasses come out of the drawer

Pluto has just stationed retrograde.

We have multiple collective Pluto transits impacting us this year. Total transformation. Death and rebirth. Before and after. No going back. When we have personal Pluto transits and during these collective transits - Pluto rules the show - we have no choice in the timing, no choice in how these challenges will show up, no choice in our participation - crisis situations will simply arise out of the current circumstances of our lives. 

We have some "free will" when it comes to how we will respond (and I say "some" because much of our conditioning that influences our responses is and was out of our control, too),

but the timing, the ingredients (which we had "some" control over at some point based on our prior actions and in-actions, but not any longer)

and the duration of the challenges - this stuff is out of our hands.

Which is the good thing that only feels like a bad thing, because as clean and well-scrubbed as our hands are - they would surely still muck this all up. Life is giving us the gentlest path through these energies that lines up with our past and future.

Now, most Pluto transits are three-peats (thank God and Goddess not the Saturn/Pluto we had in January)- like this year's Jupiter/Pluto

(and I remember last year reading astronomers write how "Jupiter will give us Pluto in 2020" and thinking oh, that doesn't sound like what we want Jupiter to give us!).

We've had the first hit of the Jupiter/Pluto - the devastation (think nuclear explosion), the second is the emptiness/loneliness (the barren land of the explosion - June 30th exact) and the third is the very beginning of the rebirth (November 12th exact).

How we get through this and what we have left when Jupiter meets Saturn on the winter solstice in December is going to have more to do with how well we have raised the vibrational field that made us susceptible to "whatever the hell this is" in the first place .... maybe it shouldn't surprise us too much that it has taken our dark's shadow energy of fear to unite us.

(and, yes, we are divided about what to do about it and what we should be most afraid of, but the collective fear itself is something we can probably all agree upon)

As we find ways to work through our fear, our cynicism, our narcissistic worldview and as we hold a space for everyone, even the people we don't agree with (and not in some condescending bull-shitty way) we will start to raise ourselves out of this space - not to go back where we were before because that space is gone/ground is scorched - but toward something new and better for everyone.

I am going to write a May monthly post this week, so we can see further ahead and we talked a little bit about May HERE.

For this week, some big aspects and transits are:

MONDAY - Mercury into Taurus, Mercury sextiles North Node
TUESDAY - Mercury squares Saturn
WEDNESDAY - Pallas into Aquarius
THURSDAY - Mercury conjuncts Uranus
SUNDAY - Venus squares Neptune

So, we begin this week coming off the Sun meeting Uranus and Mercury squaring Jupiter on Sunday - and we are launched into another big week for Mercury (as us).

He/she is going to exit Aries (those fightin' words should simmer down a bit for now), enter muddy Taurus, chat up the North Node, fight with Saturn (authority/limits/responsibilities) and meet Uranus (sudden unexpected change, SURPRISES). The Moon will be in Cancer so facing off with that Cappy stuff, then the Moon will be in Leo and squaring the Aquarius and Taurus stuff - things will probably feel intense. More intense? No, not necessarily, but intense, yes.

With an active Mercury, one of the things to keep in mind is that Mercury is our perspective. Our point of view. We see everything through the personal lens of our own theories/beliefs. We kind of believe what we do and then look around (unconsciously usually) for what supports our ideas and beliefs and that's what we notice and the problem here - especially during times like these when we need to be seeing new things and thinking/communicating in new ways - is our perspective limits what we can actually see. It's like we have spent our life looking through a macro lens and don't know what is outside our viewfinder if we just change our setting.

On MONDAY, Mercury (communication, conversation, thoughts, ideas) moves into steady, grounded (and fixed) Taurus. Communications and thinking turn to practical things. In general, the pace slows, but as quick-moving Mercury flies into our Taurus house - the theme of that house becomes more active. Taurus gets results through self-sufficiency, by bringing ideas and concepts 'down to earth', by being sensible, by using what we have. This is not the time to enact complicated plans unless we want to make ourselves (and everyone else) crazy re-doing or rejecting them later. Better to drill down to the fundamentals now.

Keep things simple.

Now we have Mercury in Venus's sign - Taurus - and Venus in Mercury's sign - Gemini. These planets in mutual reception are strengthened now giving Mercury access to his home-boy energy of Gemini and Venus access to her home-girl energy of Taurus. So, even though they are not in places they are super happy to be or particularly strong, they are made stronger through their connection to each other (we can take a lesson, right?).

Also Venus, ahead of the Sun, is 'out of bounds' so not answering to the Sun's rules. Love, money, our values, beauty - it's kind of all up for grabs here. 

Within hours, Mercury (in Taurus now) sextiles the North Node - our collective way forward - in the sign of "home/family/mother/real estate/home business/family business/it's an inside job" Cancer. The North Node is in Cancer for only one more week!

This is information/communication that moves us forward. Pay attention to what comes to your attention now. This is a sextile, so our active participation is required. Watch your language because it will matter even more than usual. Talk about what you want and not what you don't want.

Now a heads up that Mercury is going to meet the Sun on Monday, May 4th - this is the day before the Nodes change from Cancer/Capricorn to Gemini/Sagittarius. This is the best aspect for clear communication and mental clarity - getting a solar reset just before the North Node, our collective way forward, starts answering to Mercury is mega-good news. Now at the same time they will be semi-square this same degree of the North Node in Cancer. So, likely whatever this is about for us today will become more clear next week, although not without potential future challenges (that semi-square) - a kind of subtle problem we will be prone to ignore. That perspective thing we talked about. So, keep that in mind.

On TUESDAY - Mercury (in Taurus now) squares Saturn (in Aquarius) - here is communications or information regarding restrictions and rules. Walls. Limits. Tension with authority. Maybe there is an ending. A "no". A responsibility/duty that must be talked about. Maybe our communications or commerce or access to some information is (and some people will get Mercury aspects as local community or sibling or transportation situations) stalled or restricted now.

On WEDNESDAY - Pallas (our strategic warrior energy) now follows Saturn into Aquarius. Excellent energy for solving problems in new and future-focused ways. Smart courage. We can access genius strategies now (also maybe some that are just cray-cray, that's ok). The challenge with Aquarius is we can get ahead of ourselves/move too fast/be ahead of our time, which is sometimes a good thing, but not always.

On THURSDAY - Now here is where Mercury meets Uranus (in Taurus). So, we had that limit/responsibility/ending/"no" earlier in the week (Tuesday, although it might not have happened exactly on Tuesday) and now here is a sudden, unexpected mental breakthrough. Liberating or unexpected news/information/conversations. Communications with groups/causes/maybe an actual Aquarius person.

There is a surprise here! Good news. Bad news. We can't see and again there is that perspective thing. Just know to expect the unexpected (yeah, I hate that expression, too). Coming after that square to Saturn it feels like a release though whatever it is.

On SUNDAY - here is the first of three Venus/Neptune squares. Tread carefully with anything that sounds too good to be true. Something could be very seductive now. Love/values/money can be dissolving or attached to something illusive/ghostly. There can be sweet talk, but empty words. Sweet nothings really are sweet nothings.

Venus in Gemini has expectations, but Neptune in Pisces can be disappointing. This is pretty much in play all of May and then comes back for a close-out at the end of July.

We talked about this in the New Moon post -

"Venus is in Gemini (mutable air), so already what we want/need/even love - is subject to change. This is flirty, not 'put a ring on it' energy. The upcoming squares to illusive and sometimes fantastical Neptune could certainly make something seem better than it actually is. Neptune has no boundaries - our values/our money/our resources/ our heart could be drained. We need to really think about (be sure we are dealing with reality here) any big commitments we are making with Venusian themes before August - when we get past that final square (the exact dates are May 3rd, May 20th and July 27th)."

xo all
photo by the talented DorottyaS

Today's Astrology Forecast | Thursday, April 23, 2020 - getting comfortable with being uncomfortable, a hunger for change, planning for the future, a long slow release of control, what is unfolding now is about more than now

The Moon traveling through Taurus (where she is exalted) perfects her conjunction with Uranus today. We talked about this in the New Moon post HERE. Maybe this is about getting more comfortable with being uncomfortable. With change. With disorder. With technology. Changes to our security/finances. Uranus seeks to liberate us, so confinement can feel more confining.

The Sun is going to shine a white hot spotlight here in a couple days - on our security/finances/resources - so this is kind of an emotional preview. We are downloaded with a hunger for change.

In the meantime, Ceres moves into Pisces for a long transit (back and forth due to her retrograde, but not out of Pisces for good until February 2021 when she moves into Aries and it's a whole new ballgame). Ceres was one of the important players in January's big "time runs out" palaver with Saturn and Pluto and Mercury, so we really need to pay attention.

Ceres is our Earth Mother energy, an asteroid promoted to dwarf planet at the discovery of Eris (when Pluto was demoted by astronomers from planet  to dwarf planet), she was synchronistically named for the Goddess of Agriculture, famous for her great grief when her daughter Persephone was stolen to the underworld by Pluto (maybe Eris got her a little revenge with Pluto's demotion). Later a deal was reached so Persephone would spend part of each year in the underworld with Pluto caring for the souls of the dead, but each spring would be reunited to her mother in the upper world as she initiated the dead into the rites of rebirth (spring).

She often activates themes of mothering/sometimes smother mothering, season of life issues, nature/weather/food situations, situations where we lack control, loss/endings, the need for important - can feel like life and death - compromises and negotiations.

In Pisces, we will be asked to release/let go, probably gradually, to situations/people we can't control. She will retrograde here, so we will be going back and forth over some situation. Maybe something that has been draining us. Maybe something where a sacrifice is required. With Pisces, since this is boundless/transcendent energy - answers are not clear. 

This is a let go and let God thing. We will trust the timing.  

Keep in mind what is unfolding in the world is about more than the moment it's unfolding. We are evolving from fear (of death, God, illness, standing on our own two feet, losing what we have) to the ability to have an experience of this without the fear. 

Everyone's ideas/actions/feelings are valid and needed - yes, even the people we don't agree with.

The Moon will start to square Mars late tonight (EDT) - this is where emotionally we want to stay safe and secure and hold onto what we have, but there is tension/frustration through a need for innovative action, movement that creates more freedom, idealistic courage. We could be feeling the stress of these two divergent things - within ourselves, through our situations and other people.

xo all

photo by the flickerees

New Moon in Taurus | April 22, 2020 - starting from where we are now, responsibilities and limits, a liberating chaos, changes with our resources and values, get your hands into some dirt

On Wednesday, April 22, 2020 the Moon meets the Sun at 3 degrees giving us this month's New Moon on Earth Day(!) in Mother Earth's sign of Taurus.

Ruled by Venus and ruler of the 2nd house. People don't always understand Taurus. It is like she is so simple, and these times we live in so complicated, we have made her complicated, too. She really isn't.

Taurus is the first of the Earth signs and is fixed earth - she is everything grounded.

Taurus is all about sensuality - the touch that feels like love. She is spring. Life. Mother Earth. Our natal planets in Taurus offer a promise of fruitfulness and growth in this lifetime; the promise of something better. Where is 3 degrees Taurus in your natal chart? What is the theme of that house? What needs to be planted?

Taurus is the energy that coaxes us out of our heads and back into our bodies at the end of a long day with a nice hot bath, she draws our hands to those tomato plants at the garden center and urges us to get them into the ground, she is the voice in us that instinctively whispers "I love you" when we stroke the baby's ear with our lips.

Let's unpack the chart!

The Moon (and Sun) are just past their square to sober Saturn and approaching their conjunction to liberating Uranus. I can't remember the last time we've had a New Moon that wasn't connecting with Uranus (change!).

Squaring Saturn we have these limits/responsibilities/slow-downs. Maybe we've heard a "no"/faced an important ending. This is in the past, but we continue to be impacted. Not quite out of the woods. Not free of this. There are things we will have to do without. Things we must do that we don't want to do.

The Taurus fresh start (slow to begin with, this being fixed earth and all) is SLOWED DOWN.

We are moving toward that conjunction with liberating (and chaotic, because liberation is chaotic) Uranus. This could portend changes with Taurean collective themes - our money, our resources, our values and self-esteem. Personally we deal with the energy of the collective theme and our natal/progressed houses impacted and have to factor in the state of our natal Venus. Taurus may not be complicated, but something here is. This stuff is already in play, but maybe at the time of the New Moon and three days later when the Sun does what the Moon is doing now - we get the spotlight on this stuff. Our attention is drawn to the CHANGE. To any threats to our security. The things we thought were solid, we are no longer quite so sure about. If we "own" things that are feeling like they are owning us - this is excellent energy to begin to separate from them.

Venus, ruler of Taurus, and this New Moon is walking degrees in Gemini she is going to walk two more times throughout her upcoming retrograde (post to follow). We will be going back and forth over this stuff - changing our mind, making decisions about what we value/need NOW.

She is past her conjunction to Vesta (guardian of our hearth and home, the stuff most precious to us, the stuff that can keep us up all night). This was exact about a week ago - when maybe we got really focused on something - and they have one more meeting on May 15th while Venus is retrograde (they don't have a third, so probably whatever this is won't feel quite finished). So, in mid-May we have a re-do, a re-vision, a re-visiting of whatever we we got hooked on back on April 14th. So, maybe at the time of this New Moon, we are kind of thinking this thing is somewhat settled, but it isn't ...

Venus is conjunct asteroid Hygiea - we are taking care of ourselves, maintaining healthy practices, washing our hands. I would expect with both Hygiea and Venus trining an active Mars (in Aquarius) some ingenious ideas regarding healthy practices/actions - at the very least - to come in now.

Venus is applying to a square to Neptune, which is still wide, but since it's an important repeating aspect (through the end of July) and Neptune hasn't been this far into Pisces since the build up to the Civil War, let's look at it. Venus is in Gemini (mutable air), so already what we want/need/even love - is subject to change. This is flirty, not 'put a ring on it' energy. The upcoming squares to illusive and sometimes fantastical Neptune could certainly make something seem better than it actually is. Neptune has no boundaries - our values/our money/our resources/ our heart could be drained. We need to really think about (be sure we are dealing with reality here) any big commitments we are making with Venusian themes before August - when we get past that final square (the exact dates are May 3rd, May 20th and July 27th).

We'll talk about this more as we move through it - but heads up - and some of this will probably not be avoidable and we don't want to avoid all the stuff we would later call "mistakes" anyway, but it's certainly something to think about as we make new decisions and choices from May through July. This isn't an excuse to stay safe and stuck though.

Black Moon Lilith is exactly opposing Juno. This is like the 'other woman' and the wife, one in Aries and other in Libra, asking us - who are we loyal to? Ourselves or someone else? Independence or cooperation? There is no right or wrong answer here. EVERYONE GETS A SEAT AT THE TABLE.

And Juno is retrograde so we will be re-visiting this in the beginning of September.

This makes me think about the lock-down protestors vs their state governments or we could even say vs the people who think the lock-downs are totally necessary.

I would say this - the North Node is moving into Gemini in two weeks - we are going to be changing our minds about all kinds of things over the next 18 months. 

I wouldn't get too wedded to our beliefs with this kind of stuff. We can all be right and we can all be wrong at the same time. 

It's probably good for the spread of this dis-ease (although I can't say that for sure, but I'm saying it anyway) that most people are home and not protesting. On the other hand (and I can't say this for sure either, but I'm saying it anyway) those protestors could be the only thing standing between us and an untested vaccine with a tracking chip. 

We are in the energies that have led us to war over and over again including the Revolutionary War and the Civil War (not to mention the witch trials, girls!). The Gemini/Sag nodal access was in effect during both World Wars and the Iraq War. If this doesn't convince us we need to bring everyone to the table now I don't know what will!

There are compromises here - ways to do this together. We will need everyone.

Back to the chart - Ceres - who could one day be the ruling planet for Taurus - is at the important, final degree of Aquarius trining that North Node (although out of sign), the Node preparing to move into Gemini. New ideas. New choices. The planet will be heard. Mothers/mothering situations will be heard.

The ways we are reacting and responding to any challenges to our own authority WILL BE HEARD.

Ceres is Mother Earth and is about the reality of shared power and an important player at that January pow-wow. She gets a BIG say now. And look at Eris (the angry outsider) still squaring that Cappy pile-up - it was her discovery that elevated Ceres to dwarf planet status in the first place.

Stay in your magic, people!

NEW MOON INTENTIONS 

This new moon in Taurus is an excellent time to begin a grounding practice, make affirmations and set intentions about Taurean ruled themes (also the theme of your natal Taurus house): love, money, contentment with what we already have, patience, self-worth, releasing stubbornness, health issues regarding our neck, throat and voice in the world - this would be a great time to start a singing practice or class, simply committing to singing loud and strong every time we are in the car can begin to carry our voice to new spaces and places (are you wanting to get your voice heard? think about it, I am totally serious, this is how life works) - nutrition, nature, self-care.

AFFIRMATION TIPS: get into a happy, contented frame of mind - HUG A TREE (she needs you, too!) - always make affirmations from a positive place, and both definitions of positive apply here - happy and certain. Write your affirmations down by hand in script, speak them out loud - then release your attention from these things knowing that your intention is known.  

Know these things are already yours.

xo all

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