Today's astrology Forecast | Thursday, April 30, 2020 - coming unstuck, risk vs safety, unexpected news, breakthroughs, cosmic downloads, courage is healing, a long chapter about the use, and abuse, of power

Our Moon, in Leo now and nurtured through fun and creativity and children and romance and attention - is having a bit of a hard time of it today. She had that opposition to Saturn last night and today must work her way through (all times EDT) a square to Mercury (6:46AM), a square to Uranus (9:20AM) and finally a square to the Sun (4:38PM). She also makes a nice trine to Chiron at some point.

This is also the day (although very late EDT and could be felt more tomorrow) Mercury meets Uranus (6 degrees Taurus, while semi-squaring Neptune).

There is alot of energy today/tomorrow to push us out of a rut!

Let's look at the Moon first - she tells us our collective emotional temperature. In Leo, she (as us) wants to be seen/heard/dare we say admired. She is challenged today by information, maybe by finances/resources. She is challenged by change/the unexpected/a need for freedom.

Her square to the Sun is this month's 1st Quarter Square - here is where that New Moon energy from last week reaches its first test. This is Leo/Taurus. Drama vs restraint. Risk vs safety. They are both fixed signs - they both dig in.

With Mercury meeting Uranus there is UNEXPECTED INFORMATION (today and tomorrow). Expect something else. Mental ruts can be jumped now.

Expect people could be irrational/rebellious. This energy is going to get stagnant stuff unstuck one way or the other - so be pro-active through positive change.  

Happening in Taurus this will be about our natal Taurus house theme or our collective themes of money, our resources, our values or self-esteem.

We are downloaded with a thirst for SOMETHING ELSE.

Maybe with new ideas about our money/resources. BREAKTHROUGHS ARE POSSIBLE. Genius thinking. Ideas, that are ahead of their time, can be picked like apples by those who are ready for them.

Breakdowns and break-ups can happen, too. Something is getting broken here.

Maybe this is about the removal of something that has been limiting us. As Mercury meets Uranus our lower mind is connected to our higher mind - the cosmos. The sky is the limit and anything fitting even slightly tightly (slightly tightly) will feel like a dog collar right about now.

Now, some people (more Uranian or Leo energy people most likely) will be feeling this need to break out and other people (more Taurean people most likely) will be feeling the need to hunker down. And everyone will be feeling both of these things at the same time. We have to trust we will need what we need here. Everyone gets a seat at the table - even the people we don't agree with. And if we are thinking, they are putting "us" in jeopardy, (either our physical health or our financial health and yes both matter) - remember we are working through a very old, very long story about our use of POWER. It's not the time to abdicate ours by blaming other people or waiting for other people to save us. We don't have control over everything, but there are some things we can control.

These things will find their way to us.

The tension now is designed for things to come unstuck and/or for us to make hard choices about what can't.

Remember Mercury was at the big pow-wow in January when Saturn met Pluto and time ran out - then he swam back and forth through Pisces (ruler of things like viruses) for months. Now, he's gotten to Taurus, normally a rock solid space, but the home of chaotic and disruptive Uranus for the next few years. He is cautious in Taurus (and stronger than he usually is since Taurus ruler Venus is in Gemini and offering mutual reception).

And now, bam, he runs into Uranus. Liberation. Change. And in Taurus as the Sun squares the Moon and the Moon squares Uranus - this "change" thing is not so simple. And Taurus rules really important things like our money and our values, so there is always the need for some caution. And we can see that semi-square - baby square - to Neptune, maybe warning of challenges ahead - with dissolving resources, the virus, confusion, lies - maybe all of this.

Nothing is simple here.

Mercury meets the Sun (clarity) next week and then starts ruling the North Node. We are doing the two-step, remember. And there is that nice healing trine to Chiron (in brave and individualistic Aries) today - if we manage to navigate these squares well ... and even if we don't.


xo all

photo by the amazing thefirebomb

Today's astrology Forecast | Wednesday, April 29, 2020 - feeling the pressure, building something, preparing for Mercury by learning the two-step

Our Cancer Moon is feeling the outside pressure today of authority/limits/deadlines/rules/goals - opposing a retrograde Pluto at 12:01PM EDT and then going void off her opposition to Jupiter at 3:29PM EDT. She is trapped. She will be void until 9:06PM EDT.

Part of this internal pressure is knowing, even getting into Leo isn't helping her anymore, because she will have to immediately face off with Saturn (12:26AM EDT tonight).

We need to be gentle with each other and give ourselves a break.

Keep in mind this is our FINAL Moon in Cancer with the North Node (our collective way forward/North Star) in Cancer for 28 years. We have had 18 of these Moons in the last 18 months - encouraging us to move toward home, family, our inner life, mothering without smothering, taking care of ourselves, home business projects, family business projects, real estate projects, allowing ourselves to see, without judgement, that the vulnerability in ourselves and others as we become more authentic/more transparent is needed if we don't want to be frozen into place by a need to appear strong and in control. Collectively, we brought ourselves to this quarantine situation.

In a few days the North Node will move into Gemini and begin answering to Mercury, in Taurus now, but he will change signs about every month or so and go quite frequently retrograde (allowing the "re's" of re-vision, re-unions, re-thinking) - the Moon doesn't go retrograde, and before we had the Cancer North Node we had the Leo North Node answering to the Sun and he doesn't go retrograde either. So, it has been three years since we have had a North Node answering to a planet that backtracks.

This collective wayshower being a planet with a frequent retrograde nature is going to impact us with a two steps forward/one step backward kind of dance - and that's ok, because that's the two-step right, which is a DANCE and we could use a little dancing right about now, right?!

 (and country dancing, whether or not you are into the music is freaking FUN, people - although I could be wrong about the basic steps because I have no idea actually, but you get the idea).



We can do this right? No problem!

Right now Mercury is in Taurus, so aligned with Venus. He is slowed down/savoring things. He takes the time to think things through. This is what we need right now. We can trust this. I have a Mercury in Taurus relative who always says things likes, "now let me get this straight .." and then repeats back to me exactly what I just said, only slower. Drives me totally nuts, but his voice, speaking through Venus, is BEAUTIFUL and he holds onto the words for precisely the right amount of time (a powerful manifesting tool) and if I allow myself an extra 30 seconds to not be driven crazy by his frequent pauses, I learn alot from him.  

Mercury is going to meet Uranus on Friday. Sudden insights. Breakthroughs. Liberation. Surprising news. And then on Monday we will meet the Sun - clarity! - and start a new chapter. And then on Tuesday, the North Node moves into Gemini and starts answering to Mercury - who as I said is in Taurus so aligned with a kind of Venusian slowness. Things will start to open up, but not everything and not all at once. This is also the day Venus starts walking the degrees she will walk three times during her retrograde, so there's that to think about.

In the meantime, most of us will be feeling the squeeze and need to find ways to cope.

Also keep in mind we have a Full Moon (in Scorpio so wrapping up something that started back in November) next week, too, so if you need to get moving on something and get it done - put your attention there. The Moon is waxing (growing), so what is growing in your life?

It's Taurus season. Taurus is fixed earth. It takes the wild energy of the previous sign - Aries - and makes something REAL with it. Allows it to take form.

We are all building something now.


xo all

photo by the talented anaispopy

More in the weekly HERE

Today's astrology Forecast | Tuesday, April 28, 2020 - aligning our time and energy to take care of the important stuff, practical concerns, tension, limits and responsibilties, stay practical, take things slow

The Cancer Moon sextiled Uranus as we slept (2:08AM EDT) and goes on to sextile the Taurus Sun (this month's waxing sextile) at 5:38AM EDT which will color the day with a flow between our Cancer and Taurus houses and the collective themes of practical ways to feel more stable/secure and emotional security through taking care of our resources/our money.

Excellent energy to care for and nurture what we value.

There is an opportunity here to align our time and energy so that we are taking care of the really important stuff.

We can't expect totally smooth sailing though because we have Mercury, freshly minted in Taurus, moving into her/his square to Saturn this afternoon.

This is tension/frustration. We are blocked somehow; limited.

Maybe no one wants to hear what we have to say or maybe we are the ones who are resistant to what we are hearing/reading. Responsibilities can weigh heavily or the news that comes in could feel heavy. Any contact between Saturn and Mercury has the ability to be "depressing" since Saturn literally is "pressure". Know this is coming, so take care of yourself. Turn off the news.

Use today's Moon/Sun contact - that nurturing Cancer/Taurus - to focus on what really matters that is somewhat controllable, let what is out of your control just be out of your control for now.

For example - we are probably hearing news of food being destroyed and potential upcoming food shortages (Mercury in Taurus) and we know we have Uranus, which is totally unpredictable, in Taurus - and one of the things we could expect over the coming years is changes in our food supply - AND Mercury will go retrograde in Cancer (another sign that rules nurturing/food) in the middle of June while Ceres (our third nurturing/mothering energy) is in Pisces where things can just kind of disappear.

This is something to think about - not to hoard like a lunatic, because that just hurts everyone, but to have some security/to take care of yourself and your family. To plan for that rainy day.

If you eat two loaves of bread a week how much flour, etc, do you need to have on hand if you must make your own bread for a month? Don't freak yourself out. Just buy a little extra everytime you shop.

I see alot of people on Facebook planting seeds, which is excellent, but remember there are ways to freeze the produce you can buy now, too, because not all those plantings are going to thrive, especially if you are a newbie gardener. Just use common sense. And stay flexible.

Today's vibe is kind of heavy, but also grounding. Which can be a good thing - the way bottom heavy things can't be tipped over so easily.

The Moon is supported and in her home sign, so we can emotionally handle what we have to handle.

Stay practical. Take things slow.

Working on a monthly for May! Definitely some silver linings ahead for all of us.

xo all

More in the weekly HERE

photo by the talented Mrs-White

Today's astrology Forecast | April 27, 2020 - multiple pivot points and life altering moments, words matter, use them consciously

With the Moon moving through the end of Gemini and Mercury moving through the end of Aries - the early part of this day could be busy and driven by the feeling we need to get something going/finished. This is fast-moving.

The Moon goes void off a productive trine to Mercury at 1:00PM EDT (ruler of this Moon, so the short void could continue to be productive) and then she comes home to Cancer at 1:28PM EDT.

This is the last Cancer Moon that will conjunct the North Node for 28 years - today!

At the same time Mercury makes his/her move from fiery Aries (the fighting should start to calm down for now) into stable/stubborn Taurus. Mercury will quickly move into a sextile with the North Node and a trine with the South Node.

The past and future are on our mind/in our conversations. Rules/traditions ripe to be released can slide away as we connect more solidly to the present moment.

Where are we now? How did we get here?

As our focus shifts to the future keep in mind the nodal shift to Gemini/Sag - we talked about HERE at the beginning of the year (I will add to this and re-post when updated now that we have some idea what we are dealing with!) - it will be important to be thinking about/visualizing/talking about what we want in a way that takes into consideration, ourselves AND other people and places an emphasis on the "why" of what we are doing.

Our collective world will refuse to be built on the same old rotten ground. Our personal worlds will, too.

One of Simon Sinek's old talks or Bernadette Jiwa or Seth Godin might feel timely. But remember we have to factor in ourselves, too - what do we want?

Our passion/our authenticity will be felt by other people in new ways as we all start moving forward - everything is becoming more transparent.

The Sun is past Uranus today. We are ripe for change - literally having been downloaded with a thirst for it.

We had the Uranus/Pluto square from 2011-2016 designed to change almost everything. Most people took some kind of leap during those years, but (prob due to Pluto on stealth mode through Capricorn holding some of the old world together) more needed to change. I thought when Trump was elected - with his Uranus conjunct his Sun/North Node conjunction - we had left him too much of our collective Uranus to use - so this is how it showed up. We didn't take the leaps we needed to take and so we would get a mirror. A person who is Uranus. A person who could activate the chaos/disorder that was the only way this old sh*t was ever going to change. The Uranus/Pluto were mostly Obama years (an Aquarius rising himself so answering to Uranus) - we got change, yes, but the less chaotic/costly change and the status quo was mostly still preserved. Not his fault. Not Trump's fault either. They are zeitgeists/mirrors of the collective us. Looking ahead to the 2020 election and the inauguration charts of Trump and Biden (both have major challenges including health stuff, which could be a personal thing or just show the state of the country or probably both) - neither of them looks like they win. Somehow whoever wins ends up losing maybe. Or maybe there is another candidate? Or maybe nobody wins? Or they both do? But there is a long road to be traveled before November/January and nothing now is where it will be then, so we can't see too far ahead.

Too many curves in the road.

For today, there are multiple pivot points and, hopefully gentle, life changing moments/conversations.

The stuff we are holding onto that isn't working/that we no longer love and value has to go to make space for the important stuff - the stuff that isn't actually going to be 'stuff" at all.

It's like these new programs we are downloading require some old files to be deleted and we can tell they have been deleted because we just won't care about them anymore.

We still have the North Node in Cancer - we can focus on what is most important and carry that knowing in our hearts and homes and bodies, even as we move forward this week and get busier next week as the Nodes shift.

All this Taurus will help us return to the present if we have been thinking/worrying too far ahead. Give those worries to God/Goddess/the Universe. Life has our back. Always.

xo all

Last night I was really feeling the sadness of that Moon square Neptune (plus maybe Pluto's retrograde back toward my Mercury) not sure if anyone else was feeling it so strongly. The emotional Cancer Moon looks good for today and tomorrow - although tomorrow Mercury hits Saturn - and then hits some roadblocks on Wednesday.

More in the weekly HERE


photo by the talented RaphaelleM

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