Today's Astrology Forecast | Thursday, July 9, 2020 - magic, nostalgia, talking to ghosts, going with the flow, money/relationship pivots, change is good, don't shoot yourself in the foot

Today is all about an active Pisces Moon.

Imagination. Intuition. Creativity. Healing. Rest. Flow. Looking backward. AND moving forward. Or, better said, moving toward something different. Forward/backward, this is Pisces, so who can know?!

The Moon (in Pisces now) trines a retrograde Mercury at 1:34AM EDT, squares Venus at 7:14AM EDT and sextiles Uranus at 9:49AM EDT.

The Moon in Pisces is answering to a retrograde Neptune - everything will have its roots in the past now. And everything will be refracted, like looking through water, everyone we meet used as a mirror, a lens to magnify (or maybe start a fire - take care with that). Everything will have a different meaning for each of us. There is no one way through this ...

Moon/Mercury is about putting our feelings into words. Talking about comfortable topics or that home/family situation. Emotional conversations. This should be smooth/easy. We could feel nostalgic/be talking to ghosts. Maybe we can use what we know of our family history to awaken some compassion for those people we are closest to. We are sometimes hardest on them. Maybe more than sometimes. 

Moon/Venus is a square, so a bit of a tangle. Tension/frustration. Maybe something around money/our resources. Relationships are tricky. So are situations with women. That comfortable conversation could drift into something less comfortable. Gemini wants details/facts/choices and Pisces wants to move into the spaces between the facts. Venus in Pisces might offer choices, but maybe somehow nothing will feel quite right ... and that's OK because then she moves into

an opportunistic sextile with Uranus (in Taurus, so answering to Venus). Did I say we will move through all of this by 10AM EDT - or did we do this yesterday? This sounds like my yesterday or my last night all smooshed together like I lived a week in a day or a day in an hour. With Uranus we get comfortable with something else/something different. New feels good. Excellent for creative work. New ways to make money/new ways to make love or find peace. A happy surprise. Change is good.

Lots of endings with a waning Pisces Moon, as we squeeze from a large opening into a smaller world - so what needs to be finished up?

Sometimes when there is alot of Pisces, or an active Pisces Moon, we do not always act in our own best interests and we have that Mercury/Mars still in play - so watch for that.

Don't shoot yourself in the foot. Don't shoot the messenger. Don't be the messenger who gets shot. Drive carefully.

But not so carefully that you never remove your foot from the brake.


xo all

photo by the talented Marta Syrko

Today's Astrology Forecast | Monday, July 6th, 2020 - attend to responsibilities early, positive action and social opportunities flow in the afternoon, the possibility for a surprise/shocker late tonight

I didn't get to the weekly yesterday, but will get it up soon! In the meantime a heads up, the week will roll out like this:

TUESDAY - Ceres stations retrograde
WEDNESDAY - Mercury squares Mars
FRIDAY - Venus sextiles Chiron
SATURDAY - Chiron stations retrograde
SUNDAY - Sun trines Neptune, Mercury stations direct, Quarter Moon (Aries)

So, we have Ceres and Chiron station retrograde (we will be going back over nurturing issues, season of life issues, our losses that were outside our control, stuff that triggers us), the last of three opportunistic sextiles between Venus and Chiron, some tension/frustration/an argument in the middle of the week via the Mars/Mercury (keep a cool ahead) - this is a repeating aspect - and then at the end of the week Mercury stations direct and we are MOVING FORWARD.

There is still ALOT of backward energy via all the retrograde planets - covering old ground, re-working issues and roadblock potential ahead, but we will have our three personal planets - Mercury, Venus and Mars - moving forward until September.

TODAY is all about the Moon (and we are still in the energy of this weekend's Full Moon Lunar Eclipse).

In Capricorn she goes void off a meeting with a retrograde Saturn at 5:35AM EDT - stepping into our authority, a responsibility, laying the foundation for something, a reality check, an ending/culmination.

It's a fast void and she moves into smarty-pants Aquarius at 6:08AM EDT. We are nurtured through our groups, causes, our intellect, new ideas, accepting other people's differences, the goals that bring us into connection with other people, our freak flags/being ourselves, online interests for the next couple days. The Moon in Aquarius can allow us to step back from/detach from situations we may have been a little too serious about in Cappy or bring other people or new ideas into the mix.

The Moon will sextile Mars at 3:36PM EDT (opportunity to take forward leaning action) and trine Venus at 8:22PM EDT (great for social interactions, future leaning news/ideas/conversations).

So Martian opportunities - masculine, outward movement - with Aquarius/Aries (taking action, initiative, passion) and Venusian opportunities - feminine, receptive - (things sliding into place) with Aquarius/Gemini so words/ideas/information around what we want, love, relationships, our money, resources and values.

The Moon's final move is a late night (12:37PM EDT) square to Aquarius so-ruler Uranus - so there could be something unexpected that comes up, even a sudden kind of shocking change that shifts our direction with something. With Uranus in Taurus this could have to do with our money/resources/values/self-esteem.

So, this day can move in alot of different directions. These Aquarius lunar transits can be smooth and easy or complicated.  

It's either working or it isn't.

Tomorrow, the Moon will be freewheeling it through Aquarius and Ceres will station retrograde.

Back with the weekly!


xo all

photo by the talented GinebraSiddal


The building Mars/Mercury can make the media especially negative/dramatic/fearful now, so keep this in mind. Here in New Jersey, on the 4th of July as the clouds gave way to bright and beautiful sunshine and a temperature around 80 degrees, I checked the local weather to see if the sun would stick around and read (this was a local news app pulling from the weather channel):

NJ WEATHER ALERT: expect more heat deaths, tidal flooding and jelly fish infestation as the weather warms.

Sounds like a nightmare instead of a beautiful Saturday.

We want to check ourselves for stuff like this too now, we don't need to go looking for trouble. Think about what you are talking/thinking about -  Mercury is strong at station and our words are our superpower now - what do we want to be empowering?

Weekly Astrology Forecast for Creatives | Week of July 6th - July 12, 2020 - rest, relax, have a big old blow-up (or avoid one), more things to re-consider, and we are moving forward ... maybe sideways and maybe without sugar, but moving forward

The Eclipses are over and I would say we could rest, and this week certainly has some rest penciled into it, but notice I say penciled (ink should be used at your own discretion)

because there is that middle of the week Mars/Mercury argument thingie

and, so if I say rest, you all might be ringing me up about your family slug-fest or broken down car and reminding me I said you could "rest" and then there's also the danger of a stationary Mercury

(or is that just for me these days?!)

at the end of the week, but also maybe finally a change of direction/momentum and maybe even something to re-direct the energy of that mid-week tussle.

Let's just say we have reached the sub-chapter in our story where our protagonist, feet up at the pool, finds herself slipped sideways into a new dimension (cue the Twilight Zone music) that has long been percolating. And now, fresh from the pool and dripping chlorinated water onto her kitchen tiles, she reaches for the brew that is finally ready to drink, only to find it so strong and bitter, that no amount of sugar can mediate the taste ...

What she does next matters, of course, (starting over with a new pot is no longer an option, did I mention the electricity has gone out and besides that she's out of Folger's) but staring at the water pooling at her feet actually counts as the something she does next and so there's that. It's that kind of rest. Am I making sense? Those days at the pool are so 2019, even if we are lying by a pool.

The other point I am so poorly making is we are drinking very strong coffee so rest may be problematic at times and should be taken as we can get it.

Does that make sense?

And if you are thinking, well I've already done/been doing the resting, well, maybe you have, but that's just how tired you were/might be .... we are moving from the Age of Pisces (which rules sleep) to the Age of Aquarius (which rules lightning bolts hitting you in the head) and this 'waking up' seems to be the hardest part ...

There is alot of cardinal energy so we will feel the push to DO SOMETHING, but reacting from the discomfort (I need to be doing something) as opposed to responding to a passionate need to do a certain thing is what can muck things up. 

In order for us to take right action that is sustainable (lasting change) it has to be aligned with our most passionately desired future or we are just building another house of cards. If we aren't sure what to do about the bitter coffee, we can let that pool water gather for a bit. 

Keep in mind the ticking clock's alarm has ALREADY gone off. The coffee is already bitter. The kitchen is already flooded.

OK- let's unpack the week. Notice I have included the Moons for Tuesday and Wednesday, so I can work on a big-picture post about the virus.

TUESDAY - Ceres stations retrograde
WEDNESDAY - Mercury squares Mars
FRIDAY - Venus sextiles Chiron
SATURDAY - Chiron stations retrograde
SUNDAY - Sun trines Neptune, Mercury stations direct

On TUESDAY - The Moon in Aquarius is free-wheeling it all day - having gone void off last night's disruptive square to Uranus. When the Moon isn't impacted by other celestial bodies it is best for the routine stuff we do all the time (so we don't have to do something all over again later), wrapping things up, resting or dreaming about what is next. It's not the time for starting things when we have specific expectations and outcomes we are hoping for. For something we want to stay hidden - the void Moon might be our bestie because she can keep a secret - at least for awhile.

Roll with the twists and turns today - not much will come of them.

Keep in mind we are coming off that powerful Full Moon Lunar Eclipse last weekend - the Moon is waning now. An all-day Void Moon could be the perfect balm for that if you can rest up/rejuvenate and not expect too much of yourself or other people

In the meantime, Ceres stations retrograde at 12 degrees Pisces. She will get all the way back to 28 degrees Aquarius when she will station direct on October 18th, return to Pisces on November 9th and start covering totally new ground on January 3, 2021.

Ceres in our natal chart alerts us to any challenges with nurturing and directs us to the kinds of experience we need to feel unconditionally loved and accepted. Our mother issues, the way we deal with painful and uncontrollable loss and separation - that's Ceres.

You might remember Ceres (Mother Nature) was at that "time-runs-out" palaver with Saturn/Pluto back in January.  Now, in Pisces - the final of the twelve signs for her 2020 retrograde - we are working through a long and generalized WINTER.

With Ceres retrograde we will go back over losses, what is outside our control, styles of nurturing, what we are nurturing. In Pisces, nurturing needs to be unconditional. Nurturing might require a sacrifice (Pisces) or a compromise (like Ceres/Pluto in the mythology). Pisces rules endings (the kind that happen over time the water wears away rocks), and things that are hidden including viruses.

Ceres stationing retrograde gives us even more we have to re-consider.

This is EXACTLY the degree range Mercury re-walked during her/his last retrograde from February 16th - March 9th, 2020 (you might remember Mercury stationed direct right on that Virgo Full Moon that really kicked up the corona-virus situation).

So, it probably should not be a surprise that the virus might reassert itself now. Hopefully Neptune (ruler of Pisces) being retrograde this time around can mitigate its effects (make it less dangerous). Remember it was Mercury and Ceres (as well as the Sun) who joined Saturn and Pluto back in January.

On WEDNESDAY - The Void Moon continues all morning and moves into Pisces at 2:13PM turning our attention to and nurturing us through our imagination, art, music, spirituality, healing, going with the flow, sleep, creativity, connection, charity, our addictions, escape, compassion, meditation, prayer.

A retrograde Mercury (6 degrees Cancer) squares Mars (in Aries). This is the ONLY exact aspect between two planets until Sunday that doesn't involve the Moon - such a strange week!

This speaks of arguments around home/family/real estate situations - your Cancer house theme. Memories that stir the pot. Angry conversations. Words that incite violence. Tension. Frustration. Ambition. Pushy communication. Rude language. We can't walk and talk at the same time. For some - car, tech, local community or sibling problems. Something could be breaking down/malfunctioning. With Mercury covering old ground, this probably won't be a brand new situation.

Keep in mind our Aries houses are LIT for the rest of the year and this will be a repeating aspect. For example - if you are a Scorpio Rising and have Mars in your 6th house of work and health for the rest of the year know that angry words/thoughts/actions can create problems in these areas. We want to be taking action, but we might need to keep a cool head.

Also know these tension points are part of the process. Our rough edges need to be rubbed against other rough edges to get smoothed out.

We need to be careful (and purposeful) with our language this week (and really for the next three weeks until we get past July 27th) or have filled the curse-jar with dollar bills whichever comes first. 

Note - Mercury/Mars is a repeating aspect we last had on May 11th and will have again on July 27th with Mercury direct. If you have planets/points in your natal or progressed chart on or very near 6 degrees of the cardinal signs - Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn you will probably feel this one the strongest!

FRIDAY - Venus (at 9 degrees Gemini) sextiles Chiron (in Aries).

Venus, chatty in Gemini, and Chiron, antsy in Aries - tells us the balm for whatever is hurting/needs healing will come through giving the situation a little more air, a lighter (Gemini) touch (Venus), kind words, new perspectives around love/money are possible now and mostly through our ability to keep things light.

Gemini/Aries works because Aries wants his independence and Gemini has other things to do anyway.

This is the third of three sextiles for Venus/Chiron - the first mid-April, the second mid-June. So issues from that time could come back around or be finishing up.

SATURDAY - Now, it's Chiron's turn and he stations retrograde at 10 degrees Aries.

So, now we have Mercury (but only for one more day), Chiron, Ceres, Pallas, Juno, Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto ALL retrograde.

If his retrograde motion means he is moving nearer to a planet or point in our chart whatever is hurting will intensify now - maybe we will be required to be brave, do something we don't want to do, stand up for ourselves, etc. For most people though, and especially those with planets or points that Chiron is backing off - this will be about us doing the re's here - reflecting, re-evaluating, revising - with whatever eases up a bit. We haven't had a Chiron in Aries retrograde with Mars in Aries, so this one is going to feel supercharged. We'll talk about this as we move though it, too.

SUNDAY - Mercury stations direct at 4:27AM EDT! Our Cancer house theme or collective Cancerian situation can start moving forward now - Mercury can take a couple days to get back to speed (home, family, mother, real estate, renovation, home business, family business, safety, security, history).

The Sun (in Cancer) trines Neptune (in Pisces). More energy for that home/family situation to FLOW. Our physical life-force (Sun) can work smoothly with Neptunian themes - creativity, romance, spirituality, escape, delusion, charity work, addiction, the things and people 'put away', healing, research, institutions. Maybe a creative project needs our energy and attention. Maybe we shine a great big old spotlight (Sun) on our dreams and wishes (Neptune) - yes, please.

This is usually the day every year I recommend making a vision board.

The potential downside with this energy is getting in over our head or becoming too unbounded. Trines (brakes off) can take us from zero to sixty very quickly - they are that slippery slope our grandma warned us about.

Cancer/Pisces is not such a hard task master though - whatever we are doing we can probably do it while we sleep .. or bake a cake.

A light will almost certainly be shined on the virus now, too .... and speaking of virus I have some new theories about it, and what we might expect, that I will talk about in the next 2020 overview post which will be up this week and focused exclusively on the virus and the end of the Age of Pisces.

xo all

photo by the amazing sollenafotografie

The Astrology of the Murder of Army Specialist Vanessa Guillen and the suicide of her murderer | Saturday Night Mystery

This was last week's mystery that I didn't get to post, because of the Jupiter/Pluto post.

Vanessa had been missing since late April and in the last week Vanessa's remains have been found, the case has been solved and the killer has committed suicide. Finally some answers for her grief stricken and exhausted family, but not the answers they were hoping for.

Even though this is not a "mystery" any longer, there is alot that can be learned from looking at these charts, so I have decided to go ahead and post this anyway, adding the updated information (second chart).

Astrology is much more 'accurate' (since of course, everything is interpreted through the lens of the astrologer) looking backward anyway. The language of archetypes and patterns - there are often many ways each aspect can play out.

*****

Vanessa Guillen was a Private First Class (recently promoted to Specialist) stationed at Fort Hood Army Base in Fort Hood, Texas. On the early afternoon of April 22, 2020, Vanessa, a beautiful and athletic 22 year old, disappeared from the 'parking lot of the barracks where she was stationed'

(this is how it was reported, but since her car keys and ID were found in her quarters - the parking lot might not be the place she actually was when she disappeared).

Vanessa was never seen again.

We know that not just anyone can drive onto a military base and one of the things her distraught family reported to the military authority was that Vanessa had told them she was being sexually harassed by another soldier and deciding what to do about it.

Let's unpack that 'last seen' chart for Vanessa.

We can see quickly the rulers of the Ascendant and Descendant - Saturn (ruler of the perpetrator) and the Moon (ruler of the victim), square each other, so likely the chart is usable (it's also likely they knew each other and were already at odds with each other, so we'll just keep that in mind). We see the chart is 20 degrees rising, so it looks good to be read - sometimes too early degree and the chart is too early/too soon to read or too late a degree and maybe that chart is too late to read - this isn't always true, but something to look at when the exact time is tricky to locate. 

We have a chart with Cancer rising making the Moon the ruler of the chart and the significator (stand-in) for Vanessa.

The Moon is in the 10th house in Aries (the Moon is also the co-significator for the victim, so now instead of working with two planets that represent the victim we are looking at only one). Aries is ruled by Mars in the 8th house. Anytime we have a significator (or dispositor of significator) for a missing victim in the 8th house (or 12th house) there is a strong possibility the victim is no longer alive. Mars is in Aquarius so answering to Saturn in the 7th and Uranus in the 10th (in Taurus), so answering to Venus in the 11th who is in Gemini and answering to Mercury in the 10th.

So we have a loop between the 1st house (the victim), the 7th house (the perpetrator), the 8th house (death, secrets, sex), the 10th house (career, public life, authority, reputation) and the 11th house (friends, future, goals, groups).

The sign on the cusp of the 1st house will often describe the physicality of the victim - in this case (Cancer) the archetype is someone with a shorter stature, full-bodied, pretty eyes, dark hair, sometimes a prominent jaw bone.

The Moon in the 10th could indicate something happened to her at her work or in a public place or a place that carries authority (or by someone in authority). The Moon is in her balsamic phase - dark, moving toward the Sun, so the case will become known (that 10th house) but not immediately. Since this is supported by the Cappy descendant and Saturn in the 7th  (remember you are always looking for multiple aspects that show the same thing) - we can verify that, yes, either this happened at work/a public place with authority or by someone in authority.

The Moon in Aries, which rules the head, indicates something that happened fast/maybe impulsive (although the perpetrator doesn't feel impulsive in this chart), a blow to her head or a gunshot to the head. The chart has rebellious Lilith right at the top of the chart - so Vanessa isn't just going to lay down/avoid an issue - she is going to speak up/out. Maybe she is threatening to make something public or this is what he is afraid of. Eris conjunct Mercury in the 10th - an angry outsider, a public or career dispute. Not wanting something whitewashed over.

If we move over to the descendant - the 7th house cusp of the perpetrator we have the sign of Capricorn. Capricorn is ruled by Saturn, also located in the 7th house, in Aquarius a sign he co-rules. So, just from seeing the Moon (Vanessa) in Aries in Cappy's house (10th, a place the Moon is not strong, plus she's in her weakest phase) and Saturn (the perpetrator) in Aquarius, in Libra's house (7th, a place Saturn is exalted) - we know the perpetrator has the upper hand here.

He - the perpetrator - is in the stronger position.

The sign on the cusp of the 7th house will often describe the physicality of the perpetrator - in this case (Capricorn) the archetype is someone older (which he turns out to be younger, so prob has some strong Cappy/Saturn in his chart - an old/young man, coming across as older than he is), a lean face, blackish hair, sometimes the person is witty, he might have some issues with his teeth or bone issues or skeletal issues, maybe he has an unusual walk. Maybe he likes to be alone. Maybe he is hiding anger. Maybe he is too prideful.

Keep in mind this has all happened in 2020 - the year of the great Capricorn humbling.

There are three planets in the 7th house (the perpetrator's house) - maybe three people are involved or know about what happened. In Capricorn, the perpetrator is likely career-oriented, with Pluto/Jupiter there is a power struggle involved in what happens (who has the power, maybe a  sexual situation) and that his actions are taken to the extreme With Pallas here, that the perpetrator is thinking he is solving a problem by doing this, maybe a problem for his status/career (Capricorn).

The perpetrator's loop is 7th house, 8th house, 10th house, 11th house and mirrors Vanessa's if we swap 1st for 7th!

Both significators follow the same trail.

He is interfering with her career/public status/reputation (10th/11th houses) and we know now she was having sexual harassment issues with this guy and maybe was going to take action on this. He is impeding her future/her goals (that 11th house).

And then he feels the same way - that she is impeding his future - and ultimately the chart looks to show he murders her to stop her from ruining his future.

(now keep in mind I am basing this "impeding goals/ruining the future" hypothesis on the 10th/11th house involvements - there are different scenarios that would also fit these houses and I am certainly  not saying I have all the answers here)

As for Vanessa's final resting place there are two places to look.

The ruler of the 4th house - end of the matter - here in Libra (notice the IC is conjunct partner asteroid Juno - keep this in mind as the story unfolds) is answering to Venus in Gemini. So, at some point she is in a car/vehicle transported not too far away. And we can look to Saturn, who takes us on a long journey through co-ruler chaotic and disorderly Uranus (and it turns out her body was moved to separate locations and even horrifically separated - and there is that Cappy/Aqua detachment/coldness).

Seeing that Juno on the IC - the 4th house cusp, the end of the matter - made me wonder when I first saw this chart if a partner would be involved here - either coming forward and implicating the perpetrator/telling the police where Vanessa's remains were located or by actually being involved in the murder - and that is actually exactly what happened.

Let's move over to the second chart, because as this case was playing out this week, with the police locating some of Vanessa's remains (and I am not sure if the perpetrator's girlfriend came forward with locations or if she was arrested later) and with the police closing in on this guy - he committed suicide.

Which totally fits with what our prideful Cappy perpetrator in our first chart would do!

Because the police were on the scene we have an exact time for his suicide.

Let's unpack that chart.

The ascendant for our suicide 'victim' - who we will call David, since we know his name now - is in Aries. Impulsive, maybe angry. A young man. Answering to Mars in the 12th house (in Aries) - a house of endings/death/self-undoing. Victim of a self-induced gunshot to the head (all Aries/Mars). We have Chiron conjunct the Ascendant - an old story around ego/self-esteem/feeling exposed/an outlook on life based on painful childhood experiences or with past-life roots

Here, David is the Moon, too - in that 7th house, so he does this to himself. In dark Scorpio (ruler of death) answering to Mars (that self-sabotaging sometimes via anger/violence - Mars in the 12th, strong in his home sign of Aries) and Pluto (in that 10th house of career/public life/reputation - again also indicating the story will gain attention/be seen).

Notice Lilith in that first house, it makes me think of Vanessa on his mind and in there with him in spirit. Also Uranus - chaos, sudden action. Also notice Juno - because remember she was at the very base of Vanessa's chart; the end of the matter (and it has come to light his girlfriend helped him dispose of Vanessa's body/Juno in mythology will do anything to keep her marriage and status intact) - now here in the murderer's suicide chart Juno is conjunct the descendant - I wonder if his partner (relationship partner, but also partner in crime here) turned him in, if she is now an open enemy, or if she is just factoring in here as a link to the crime/evidence and its aftermath (his suicide).

The 7th house also showing what happened to David - in Libra - a woman involved, in this case, what he has done to a woman causing what he now does to himself. And also what the woman, maybe the partner (?) does to him or what he thinks Vanessa has done to him/driven him to. That Moon in the 7th seeing himself as the victim. Something is never just one thing in an event chart.

The 7th house ruler (Venus) is in the 2nd house in Gemini (I believe he killed himself either while in a car or right after driving and getting out of a car - both Gemini situations). The 2nd house showing he is in the possession of someone else/authorities (also with Juno in Libra she, his partner, is in jail now, so also in their possession) -

and with Venus answering to Mercury in the 4th house conjunct the Sun - that the authorities (the Sun) know/have the information/facts (Mercury) of what he has done.

His crime has 'come to light'.

There is no escape that leaves his pride/self-image/reputation intact.

And, of course, the 4th house being 'the end of the matter' he ends up right there with the authorities when he ends his story by shooting himself in the head.

I wish Vanessa's disappearance had a happier ending.

She had wanted to be a soldier since she was a little girl and I believe the charts show she died standing up for herself/for her future. Brave. Intelligent. Caring.

The perpetrator, in some strange twist of fate, thought he was doing the same thing, but had the arrogance/anger/narcissism to look for another way to solve his problem and then the cowardly way out of dealing with its horrific aftermath.


xo all