Full Moon in cancer | January 17th, 2022 - the homes we've built on shifting sands, shadow work, the transforming power of grief, the need to simplify our lives, by the time we get to phoenix ...

If that title is turning you off 

(Cat, I need some love and light right now, not "the transforming power of grief!")

well, I hear you(!), still, this Cancer Full Moon is in a standoff with the Sun/Pluto, that's not easy - let's trust there's some gold (there is!) in here, too, if we are willing to dig for it!

On January 17th, 2022 at 6:48PM EST, the Cancer Moon opposes the Capricorn Sun at 27 degrees giving us another 27 degree Full Moon (our 4th!) - this one, our annual Full Moon in Cancer.

The Moon is the ruler of Cancer, so with nowhere else to go - no secondary ruler and no multiple dispositors to work through - the Cancer Full Moon is always very potent. 

 

Full Moons are peak energy/culmination points - often endings. 

 

We have the Moon (where we've been, what we feel, feminine energy, being) and the Sun (where we are trying to go/be, masculine energy, doing) as far apart in the sky as they can be from our earthly perspective during a Full Moon. This Moon at home in Cancer - so very strong - the Sun, quite comfortable in serious Cappy, but answering to Saturn in Aquarius who is himself (although the ancient ruler of Aquarius, so strong here) answering to a retrograde Uranus in Taurus answering to Venus, retrograde in Cappy, so back to Saturn. The Sun gets a few more hoops to jump through/energies to be factored in. And, this year, he is certainly powered up through his proximity to powerful Pluto.

 

Cancer/Capricorn is the polarity of traditional female/male roles. Home and family vs work and the world. How we care for ourselves (and others) and meet our needs for safety and security vs how we push ourselves out in the world toward meeting goals to obtain safety and security. Sometimes on some level this is - love/comfort vs money/comfort. Mom vs dad. Lots of family patterns and soul group energies in this polarity - the Cancer/Capricorn axis - that come to the surface now; ripe to be released. We have been working out alot of our old stuff through Cancer/Cappy the last few years and this Full Moon is part of that story. I could link to a gazillion posts, but I will just link to THIS ONE, the Full Moon in Cancer from January 2020, right before "time runs out/power is cemented", that Moon also stood across the sky from Pluto, but in 2020, Saturn had Pluto's back, too, this year Saturn has moved on. 

 

We want to move on, too, but here we are AGAIN - facing off with these shadow issues/fears.

I pulled some asteroids/dwarf planets, etc into the chart to kind of flesh things out a bit for us, but let's start with the Moon's opposition to Pluto, by far this Full Moon's BIGGEST aspect, because, contrary to the astronomical community determined to demote him, astrologers are pretty sure 'death' cannot be so easily outmaneuvered 

Let's unpack the chart!

The Moon moved into Cancer right about the time the Sun was meeting up with Pluto (a couple days before the Full Moon). The Sun on Pluto throws a light on power. Merges power/ego. Maybe we see who is really holding the cards/a reveal of the man behind wizard briefly makes an appearance. Maybe the emperor is shown to be without clothes. Maybe the servant is shown to be the king he really is. Truth can come out. The way we deal with power comes TO OUR ATTENTION. With the Moon in Cancer we will FEEL what this power/lack of power feels like. 

In the run-up to this Full Moon, before the Moon in Cancer opposes Pluto and then the Sun - she will, trine Jupiter, sextile Uranus, oppose Venus and trine Neptune, so she has been put through her paces already. Her opposition to the Sun in Capricorn is her final aspect. 

 

The Moon's closing aspect matters... alot. 

 

Ideally we'd like something smooth like a sextile or a trine and certainly not an opposition, but with all these 27 degree Full Moons, the Full Moon IS most likely to be the FINAL aspect, and, of course, the Full Moon is ALWAYS an opposition. Life seems determined we end each monthly lunar cycle with this opposition, ego challenge/CHALLENGE COMING FROM OUTSIDE OURSELVES for months.

 

These 27 degree Full Moons are in play until April when the Moon moves to 26 degrees Libra, but even then the final aspect is a square to Pluto (this is about a week before Pluto stations retrograde). It won't be until May that the Moon's closing aspect will be a sextile (smooth aspect/opportunity) to a retrograde Pluto and that Full Moon is an Eclipse in Scorpio (25 degrees), our first in 18 years, and answering to Pluto. Eclipses are hard to predict. With that Eclipse the 'spell' is broken and we move on with our usual mixed bag Full Moons.

You might remember last year we had a string of 23 degree New Moons - all in various aspects to dwarf planet Eris and that 23 degrees all starting rather 'late in the game'. Now, we have all these 27 degree Full Moons - all in various aspects to Pluto (and Sedna/Algol) and all bringing the Moon to a tense final aspect/opposition - the Moon's closing aspect being 'the last play of the game'. 

 

And this month in particular, the Moon coming off that challenging closing aspect and moving a few hours later into Leo, the Sun's domain and the sign of her detriment might feel particularly tough (the Leo Moon though does end on the 20th with a smooth trine to Mars, so there's that). 

OK, back to this chart!

The Moon is in a close opposition to Pluto. Pluto is naturally connected to Scorpio (modern rulership) and our collective 8th house and rules such matters as life/death, what is hidden, sex, reproduction, power, transformation, other people's resources/money, taxes, insurance, inheritance, third party situations. 

Power and how we deal with power is a MAJOR Plutonian issue for us at both an individual and a group level. 

Pluto, God of the underworld, rules the stuff we have stuffed. The shadow self - the real self we buried to survive. His themes include guilt, resentment, control, revenge, manipulation, jealousy, etc. There is often a kind of 'horror story' connected to our natal Pluto placement AND the stuff we carry in our 8th house. It's a childhood story, yes, but the reason we magnetized it to us in childhood in the first place is because of an even deeper ancestral/past life horror story. 

 

Maybe it's the story (chapter in the book/in life) we read under the covers with a flashlight or skip over entirely only to discover later we need to go back there to fill in the missing details. 

Our shadow self is what was hidden/given up to ensure going-on-being in our earliest years. It is not so much our anti-social traits, but the creative potential that we repressed, both individually and collectively, out of the need to preserve our emerging self from repeated unmanageable blows of fate.

This well-timed opposition to Pluto is maybe even more important than another opposition to Pluto, not that any Pluto opposition will be ignored :) - because during this Moon's lunar cycle the South Node (what is holding us back) moves into Scorpio and starts answering to Pluto. 

 

So, here is the LIGHT of the Full Moon to force our head out from under those covers. Maybe to see 'what is holding us back' more clearly.

As a Scorpio rising with an 8th house Cancer Moon, I don't hesitate to call myself, warts and all, a Plutonian person. From experience, I believe the greatest healing for our Pluto nightmares isn't years spent on the psychologist's couch, so much as reaching for the highest aspects of Taurus (Scorpio's polarity sign) - SIMPLICITY and STEWARDSHIP. Scorpios will sometimes tell me they thrive on chaos, and this may be true for some people, but most 'Pluto problems' and an opposition to the Moon in feeling/vulnerable Cancer will probably not feel especially 'thriving' - can be greatly helped by making things more simple and focusing on what we are stewarding/nurturing - there is even a SMOOTH/OPPORTUNISTIC trine to Mama-bear Ceres nearing the end of her time in Taurus, 'back in the garden', to help things fall into place when we lean in this direction.

There is an 'out-of-sign' sextile to the North Node in Gemini (more choices, new facts, keeping things small and local) and a waning trine to Neptune (ancestral help, inspiration, imagination) to help us through this one.

 

The Full Moon also has an important inconjunct to Mars (Mars now conjunct the Sun of that first U.S. vax chart - Mars the trigger so triggering a light on what has and hasn't been accomplished). A rock and a hard place. Cancer/Sagittarius. Home/safety/security at odds with adventure/what is foreign/that maybe greener grass over there. Mars wants to GO, but the Moon says - stay home/stay safe. Some give and take is needed. 

Maybe during this Full Moon (with one eye on that upcoming South Node Scorpio) we might SEE/FEEL what is dying/scaring the hell out of us/coming out of the shadows. We don't want to stuff it because we are going to have enough to unpack over the next 18 months with the South Node in Scorpio. We want to feel it without being consumed/smothered by it.  We will probably need to LEAN INTO, what IS working, what is comfortable, what is most simple. This 'simple' thing is not always going to be easy, because Uranus has been in our Taurus house for the last couple years knocking over the furniture. Simple doesn't mean avoiding the mess. But what mess can be cleaned up/simplified? Or what part of this mess can we live with right now? Or how can make a practical plan for the mess, but also spend some comfortable time in the 'non-messy'? Am I making sense here? We have to get ourselves untangled from whatever is most complicated/crisis driven AND WE KNOW WHAT THIS IS. This Moon can bring something like this TO A HEAD. Self-care will matter at this Full Moon. Mother issues can be helped/healed through time spent with Mother Earth.

People with Pluto/Moon or Scorpio Moon/8th house Moon or Cancer aspects (Sag risings) or people with planets/points nearest 27 degrees of the cardinal signs - Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn might be feeling this energy strongest. Maybe people who have lost their mother/lost their mothering. Feelings of resentment might come up involving children or a feeling of holding onto children in a life or death manner or grief around lost children or what our children are losing. The scars left from lack of/cut-off early nurturing can be exposed to us, too. The Moon/Pluto is a very good combination for anything that deals with subtlety. We can really tune into the motivations of other people now.

 

Cancer Moons can like to hide, but the Full Moon isn't a time that allows hiding (still we might need some time alone/take it). The night sky is ILLUMINATED, so we want to hunker down, but something is happening that isn't allowing this 'hunkering' to be comfortable. Full Moons can bring endings/culminations, but maybe here whatever is ending isn't a comfortable ending. Because HERE is Pluto. The truth, the secret that comes out, the fear of death or the actual death/loss, the power struggle, the obsession, the jealousy/resentment, the deep grief, the manipulation - the thing we can't control. 

 

For some, this very emotional/vulnerable Full Moon can bring up depression/anxiety issues. Perhaps anxiety/depression is simply what naturally happens to spontaneous aliveness when it is dismembered and buried out of the need to 'protect' ourselves. If life’s excitement can't be entered into maybe it is always very likely to assume pathological expression. 

 

What can we do to feel more alive?

 

No more 'waiting' for things to go back to what was working before or what was comfortable before. No more 'waiting' around passively for something to happen - it will and we might not like it! We might not be able to do everything right now, but what can we do? Mercury is about to move through multiple squares with Uranus and during these tangles Uranus is going to station direct, followed by Mercury. There isn't only the change that comes our way there is the change that we create! 

 

Millions of people not creating any change, allow these energies to run amok.

The highest energy of Pluto is the energy of the Pheonix - which rises from the ashes. These Full Moons in relation to Pluto are like mini collective deaths and rebirths. This one may be the most strongly felt/the most challenged, but it is also the one with the strongest Moon - in her home sign and sextiling Ceres, so we'll keep that in mind as we move through the next couple weeks and process our feelings with what comes up. 

This is getting awfully wordy - but let's take a fast look at those asteroids. 

 

Asteroid Pandora (pandemic and first woman /we'll get back to her in the U.S. Pluto return series) trines the Moon from the very end of Scorpio, answering to Pluto, and we can see ' the brakes are off' with omicron and our 'first woman' story-line that has been previously set into motion here in the U.S. This 'brakes are off' is not necessarily a bad thing and that is supported by benevolent Venus's conjunction (as omicron was announced) to the January 2020 degree where Saturn met Pluto (as China announced to the WHO the virus had jumped countries/official start of pandemic). 

The Moon/Sun are squared by asteroids Achilles in Aries and asteroids Elatus and Haumea in Libra which form a Grand Cardinal Cross. This shows the need to START something/initiate change. Makes me think of the anxiety/depression symptoms as we struggle for spontaneous aliveness. Haumea is a Hawaiian creator-God energy. She was discovered in December 2004 at 12 degrees Libra and tightly conjunct asteroid Tsunemi,  two days after a tsunami in the Indian Ocean that killed over 200,000 people - she was named for a scientist, but it is thought the sound of names can carry the meaning of a word they closely resemble. Elatus was a centaur killed by the poisoned arrow that went on to injure Chiron's knee/foot setting that whole part of Chiron's story into motion. Achilles was the great warrior/hero of the Trojan War and was raised by Chiron (his human-mother had attempted at his birth to make Achilles immortal by holding him in the River Styx, holding him by his heel that was the one part of his body "un-dipped" and later vulnerable). Achilles also died by an arrow through his vulnerable heel/foot. Maybe something here about 'shooting ourselves in the foot'? Maybe something about 'the shots'. Mars in Sag is now on the Sun of that first U.S. shot chart and he was on the natal Chiron of the U.S. birth chart during that first shot, which started on an Eclipse, so pretty wildcard energy back then.

 

HERE is a post about that. 

 

The Full Moon is also in an opportunistic sextile to Sedna (we talked about her HERE) and, with Sedna at 28 degrees, and being a VERY slow mover, the other 27 degree Full Moons have been/will be talking to her, too! And that aspect is applying/building, so a very strong one. The Moon also sextiles malevolent fixed star Algol, pretty much merged with Sedna these past couple years. 

 

We will talk about Sedna and Algol in the U.S. Pluto return post.

 

To bottom line something here - the Sun is conjunct Pluto - a light on power/powerlessness. Pluto is requiring we harness and redirect our solar power. The Sun in Cappy is determined anyway, with the tenacity and guts to be who he wants to be. Pluto respects this. The Moon, across the skies in her home sign of Cancer is determined, too. And Pluto and the Moon are both water planets and both have a talent for hiding/repressing feelings, intuitively knowing these stored memories can be PAINFUL. Maybe the biggest difference here is the way the Moon/Cancer holds on to this emotional baggage and Pluto/Scorpio can drag the deadwood/fear-based crap into the here-and-now and let the Sun's fire burn it up. Pluto brings the tough love. With the Sun's bright light, maybe we can see the ways we have built our house on the shifting sands of other people's values/money/resources/agendas and through outdated authority contracts (the ways we've given our power away), some as old as time itself. 

 

Maybe this powerful Cancer Full Moon asks us, in her time of fullness, what we need to let go of/give birth to, to come home to ourselves.

It's a BIG Full Moon - playing out over the next two weeks as things change and then change again.

Buckle up. Take care of yourself. Life has our backs, truly, truly.

xo all - I hope something in here is helpful. Back with part I of the U.S. Pluto return series.

Mercury stations retrograde | Ceres stations direct | January 14, 2022 - the conversation shifts, our thinking changes, the past and the future are pulled into the present

 

 

We talked about Mercury's retrograde in detail HERE. 

 

Starting in an air sign (Aquarius) this retrograde is designed to CHANGE OUR THINKING, connect us with fresh ideas we may have overlooked the first time through, SLOW US DOWN so the things we need to line up with will be there when we need them. 

 

Directions change. Conversations shift. Situations might need to be 're-worked'.

 

Expect some wonk, and give yourself extra time. Pay extra attention to emails/texts, etc - it will be easy to overlook something, misunderstand something or say something incorrectly. Someone from the past can reappear or old conversations, etc come back around. Gadgets and gizmos (and transportation, communication devices) can create problems/slow us down. Drive safely - especially right now with the Moon in Gemini during Mercury's station (Mercury's sign) and going void tonight off an opposition to a fiery Mars.

 

With Venus already retrograde and Mercury headed back into Capricorn, this is not the time for pushing full-steam ahead and barreling over obstacles to reach our goals. That stuff is in our way/delayed for a reason. Lay the groundwork. What isn't working and needs to be re-done? Mercury backs into Capricorn on January 25th, here is where we take the changes in our thinking/new ideas/conversations and use them for to make physical/practical changes. Mercury will be retrograde until February 3rd.

 

Today is also the day Ceres, at 27 degrees Taurus, stations direct. 27 degrees of all the signs is being heated up with this string of 27 degree Full Moons, so pay attention. Information may slow, but something physical/tangible/maybe something that makes sense/cents can start moving forward. 

 

Since Ceres rules change of life situations - the seasons of our life - her change of direction as Mercury retrogrades can also indicate whatever we have been 'propping up' during her retrograde, can fall now, taking us into another chapter/season. 

 

She is answering to a retrograde Venus, so some people may see money that has been held up come in now (for others this will wait for Uranus's change of direction or Venus's station direct). Resource issues that have been hidden during her retrograde can start to show up and conversely new resources start to take root. Weather situations are possible, especially as we get closer to Mondays' BIG Full Moon. Ceres stationed retrograde back on October 8th (in Gemini) and backed into Taurus, her garden, on December 21st (she entered Taurus on the Winter Solstice) - situations connected to those dates should begin to move forward. 

 

Keep in mind, in Taurus,  she is still answering to a retrograde Venus, so we will have to see how much momentum we get from Ceres station while Venus is in such a challenging retrograde (until January 29th). Ceres will be back in Gemini on February 8th - and start answering to Mercury, who will be direct by then, although re-walking old ground.

 

The Moon is in Gemini on Thursday (if you reading this on Wednesday there is a nice trine to Mercury in the evening - good for connecting with people, local get-togethers, etc) with a mixed bag of aspects with Saturn, Neptune and Mars. She goes void at 9:22PM EST off a challenging opposition to Mars (keep a cool head) and is void until 11:11AM EST on Saturday when she comes home to Cancer and starts preparing for Monday's emotional Full Moon. 

That post is next.

xo all

 

artwork by the amazing Rafael Pellicer Galeote

Today's astrology forecast | Wednesday, January 12, 2022 - the early bird gets the worm, practical progress, something falls into place, focusing and paying attention

 

 

The Moon is in comfortable Taurus now, the sign of her exaltation. We are nurtured/nourished by traditionally nurturing things. Comfort, good food, a soft touch, a hot bath, some benjamins in our wallet. 

 

She will sextile Neptune at 3:38AM EST, trine the Sun at 6:19AM EST, and will go void off her trine to powerful Pluto at 2:38pm EST. She will be void until 10:08PM EST when she moves into Gemini and meets up with the North Node.

 

Get up early. 

 

The trine to the Sun is this month's Waxing Trine - this is practical progress (Taurus/Cappy) with the things we can hold in our hands/take to the bank. Something wants to fall into place between our Taurus and Cappy houses. Here is where our New Moon story from two weeks ago can shake out something solid/supportive. We just need to make a little effort/do the next real thing. This is a kind of "if we build it, it will last" energy. Collectively this is our money/values/self esteem and our goals/worldly ambitions/career working together.

The follow-up trine to Pluto will allow us to focus. It can make this all more intense, but again this is a trine to Cappy - practical progress. Now we are merging with other people/other people's resources. Going deeper. Puzzling something out. Good for dealing with authority and stepping into our own. There is alot of flow now/positive alignment.

The Moon continues to perform during the void - still not a time to start anything brand new - and then she gets into Gemini, so the pace will pick up for the next couple days.

Her first aspect is a conjunction to the North Node, so pay attention.

 

Here is information, a conversation, communication that connects us to the future/where we are going. This is through the Moon, our emotions, so notice what shifts -  in Gemini, the Moon is answering to Mercury STILL DIRECT for a couple more days, and in future-focused Aquarius, so this is likely new information. Mercury is about to go retrograde, so whatever comes to our attention now is subject to revisions later, but can still bring in new options/choices. Talk to people. Make the call/send the email.

 

Pay attention to what catches your attention now/what makes you ask questions/what makes you think. 

xo all

When we get to the Full Moon early next week the aspects to the Sun and Pluto will be much more challenging, so if something dealing with your Cappy house theme or the collective themes of careers/goals/authority can be done sooner (now) rather than later (then) that will probably be a good thing.

 

artwork by the amazing Dun Huynh

weekly astrology forecast | january 10th - January 16th, 2022 - Mercury stations retrograde, the king is dead long live the king, using our intuition, keeping our feet on the ground, the shifting sands do some more shifting

 

 

By the end of this week, we will have TWO of our personal planets moving backward - Venus in Capricorn and Mercury in Aquarius - more of the "re's", meaning if what you are doing starts with "re" you are probably on the right track. 

 

Mars is still making his way through Sag, a space he loves, but he will start hitting more challenges - this week a square to exhausting/delusional Neptune and next week an inconjunct (rock and a hard place) with the North Node (how we are going to get where we are going). It is probably not the best time for big leaps, because while the net MIGHT appear, there is a pretty good chance the net has changed direction, too, or was never going to be there in the first place (and, of course, after writing this, I need to say there might be something in your chart that countermands this advice, especially with this week's Sun/Pluto, and since I can't see your chart, you, as always, will have to navigate these waters as best you can - both intuition and common sense practicality can be accessed). 

 

On the other hand, this is not the time to be stuffing our size 9 feet into size 7 shoes either - again the Sun/Pluto, someone's power is going to be spotlighted, maybe it will be OURS.

 

Let's jump right into this week's biggest aspects:

 

MONDAY - Sun sextiles Neptune

TUESDAY - Mars squares Neptune

FRIDAY - Mercury stations retrograde, Ceres stations direct

SUNDAY - Sun conjuncts Pluto

We start the week with the Sun doing what a retrograde Venus did last week (Venus will do this again on January 24th). The Sun, at 20 degrees Capricorn sextiles Neptune. Again, this is "making the dream real" energy. This "making the dream real" thing can sometimes involve a sacrifice - we give up this to get that, for example. The Sun is our life force/our ego/our fire. The sextile with illusive/imaginative Neptune dissolves boundaries/limits. It allows unfiltered access to our intuition, our compassion, forgiveness, our ancestors, what we have put behind us/what we have forgotten. All these January sextiles to Neptune - and this has been true for almost a decade as Neptune has been in Pisces - encourage us to release old goals, any need for status/recognition that is no longer fulfilling. Things that once stabilized us, but are now just keeping us stuck. This is great energy for making art, music, creative work, meditation, prayer, healing.

After that solar sextile, Mars (in Sag - think :QUEST) squares Neptune. Mars is our actions, our passion, our initiative. Neptune weakens Mars, dissolves our ambitions/strength or provides a goal that is misleading. Squares are tension/frustration. Our hopes can fade. Our escape mechanisms/self-sabotage can pull us off course. We can catch a cold. Our impulsivity/need for adventure might lead us into challenging waters. 

 

Keep in mind this is a TEMPORARY aspect, so let's not allow it to create a mess of things. Mars in direct motion matters, our Quest continues.

 

And, on the other hand, because squares provide the greatest potential for real change (the whole back against the wall thing) Mars/Neptune can provide spiritual/creative FUEL if we can find a way to maintain focused actions and not drift off-course/chase something that doesn't exist.

 

At the end of the week, Mercury stations retrograde. I talked about that HERE. 

 

There might be delays, changes of course. Our thinking/the conversations shifts. We now have TWO of our personal planets retrograde. This is a BIG sign we do not want to be pushing full steam ahead - that Neptune square is actually helping us out. Life is an inside job for a bit. Give yourself a break/brake when you can. With Mercury retrograde in Aquarius - we might have had a brilliant or liberating idea that we rushed past and need to return to!

At the same time, and I missed this somehow in that retro post, Ceres stations direct at 27 degrees Taurus. Conjunct Algol and Sedna on that HOT degree from the first Solar Eclipse in Taurus last month. Ceres retrograde has been a review of what we are nurturing or what is outside our control or season of life situations, and most likely all of the above in some way. In Taurus, our Goddess back to her Garden, financial issues have been pulled into the mix, resource issues, our values, our self-esteem. Her retrograde in the Garden may have intensified our survival fears - what have we learned about ourselves? Something will move forward here (maybe a financial or value related something?), even as something else - Mercury retrograde - needs a re-think.

 

We'll talk more about Ceres in Part II of the Nodes Shift into Taurus (how we are going to get where we're going) and Scorpio (what is holding us back), sometime this week.

The week closes out with the Sun's meeting with powerful Pluto - in play all week as this applies (builds). 

The Sun/Pluto is a light thrown on power.  

 

This is power cemented/reaching its full potential or crumbled in pieces at our feet. Either way the Sun shows a result here, sometimes an ending. This is the death of the father/the old king. We can lose or gain power. Our weak foundations will crack/splinter - let them. When Pluto was thought to be the very boundary of our world/last planet out there - we thought transformation had to be life and death or death and rebirth. We had to suffer through the underworld to get to the other side. But since the discovery of Pluto's family - all these little Plutino planets (the dwarf planets) - we see this life/death/rebirth thing is alot more complicated and compelling. 

 

The Sun/Pluto cycle that started last year, at 24 degrees Cappy (this degree is super-activated during this Mercury retrograde season) is CULMINATING and a new cycle at 26 degrees Capricorn is beginning. 

 

We are building toward next week's powerful Full Moon in Cancer (opposing Pluto), Uranus stationing direct just as the Nodes shift into fixed signs and the Sun moves into Aquarius to square them. 

 

The 2020's shifting sands are going to keep throwing these curve-balls at us, as we, collectively and individually, decide (and, sometimes, yes, the fates will decide for us) the times the curve-balls will take us down, the times we need to duck, the times we need to weave, the times we need to CATCH the freakin' ball. 

xo all - back with the Full Moon post and we'll factor in the Moons with a couple dailies

artwork by the amazing Alex Garant

the astrology of Mercury's retrograde thru Aquarius and Cappy | january 14th thru february 3rd, 2022 - the change/chaos that changes the future, everything that needs to happen before the cement gets poured

 

Mercury, stations retrograde on January 14th, 2022 at 10 degrees Aquarius. 

 

He/she, as we, (is it confusing when I say this, I can't stop myself!) will get all the way back to 24 degrees Capricorn on February 3rd, before turning around again and re-walking/re-working those same degrees - 24 Cappy through 10 degrees Aqua - until February 24th when he will start covering new ground. 

Mercury originally reached 24 Cappy the first time through on December 29th. 

 

So the entire cycle of back and forth encapsulates December 29th, 2021 thru February 24th, 2022, but the actual retrograde, which most people will feel strongest is January 10th, 2022 through February 3rd, 2022. People with planets/points between 24 Cappy and 10 Aqua will feel this retrograde strongest as well as Virgo and Gemini risings (Mercury being your ruling planet) who are always more subject to Mercury's machinations. Pluto spent alot of time on 24 Cappy last year, so people with planets/points THERE may especially have something breaking loose now. 24 Cappy opposes the United States natal Mercury at 24 Cancer.

So .. Mercury is in Aquarius. Mercury likes being in Aquarius which is the higher octave of Gemini (his sign). He is connected to hive-mind, buzzing along. Taking his "little of this, little of that" Gemini mental gymnastics to a whole new level. He is approaching Saturn (reality) when he is made to stop and turn around. Another look is needed. Another conversation. New information. We missed something.

The "i's" are not dotted (and no, even though Venus is in here, too, hearts don't count). Maybe there is a "t" left uncrossed, somewhere back in chapter seven. Everything is not the way he/we thought it was. The truth shifts. Our reality shifts.

We have to re-think this! 

 

There is alot of non-sense out there about Mercury Retrogrades, and, of course, some people who would just disregard them entirely. I remember when most people had never heard of Mercury Retrograde and now it seems like poor Mercury (planet of communication and MAGIC) is being shamed/blamed for everything that goes wrong.

This is probably because - 1. the internet has exposed many more people to astrological teachings 2. most people are moving so fast now that any sort of slowdown feels like a problem  3. it's a convenient excuse when stuff falls to sh*t (pardon my french), especially stuff that would normally be considered our fault.

The truth is, although we don't want to spend too much time looking backward, we can't full steam ahead through life either.

 

Mercury goes retrograde, as viewed from our position here on Earth, three times a year (sometimes four). Mercury/think Hermes here - is "the Messenger", the "Trickster", the Cosmic Magician. Mercury retrograde periods are great times to figure out things that may be concealed when Mercury is in direct motion. Maybe because we are going too fast to notice them or maybe we took a wrong turn two miles back and need to change direction. Maybe there is a road out up ahead that we don't know about.

 

Sometimes when Mercury is retrograde, and this might be particularly relevant with this one since it starts in an air sign - we want to be proactive, but aren't able to decide. We second guess. Feel ambivalent. This is especially noticeable as Mercury slows down like he has now. He hasn't stationed to turn just yet, but some, likely ancient, part of us, senses this is coming. We pull up short. Or maybe we magnetize something to us that interrupts what we've been doing or we draw the past - the stuff with the dangling loose ends that might trip us up later if not attended to now - into the present to be dealt with.

Mercury retrogrades are a GREAT time to take another/new look at information. To have conversations that we've had before, but to say things in new ways. To STOP ourselves from saying the same old things. To STOP ourselves from looking at/absorbing the same old information. To STOP ourselves from having the same old thoughts. To REDIRECT our attention. Often, we won't have to make conscious decisions to do this kind of stuff, things come up that pull our attention/intentions in new directions.

 

Here in New Jersey, everyone is sick, was sick, or is probably about to be sick. Tests are awol, testing centers fully booked. Everyone is kind of guessing about their state of contagion. 

 

This retrograde starting in Aquarius - the sign of the shot/the mandates - and going back into Cappy - the sign of Wuhan/Pandora "time runs out" during the time of omicron (Venus retro) will have all of this being re-thought, re-analyzed, re-lived (Mercury rules Virgo as well as Gemini and his retro takes us from air to earth) over the next few weeks. 

 

No doubt after Mercury stations direct on February 3rd and has some time to get up to speed we will have alot more information. The information will no doubt still be polarizing because we live in a 3D reality that grows through polarity - that's how this thing works. Still, we will know more than we know now, even though we will still all be looking at different things/knowing different things. That's OK. That's how this whole 'life on planet Earth' is supposed to work. 

We have all lived through dozens of Mercury retrogrades. We are offered the chance, again and again, to learn to use these periods WISELY. Mercury is a trickster energy though - things can kind of sneak in on us, maybe so we can more consciously decide what to do with them than we did the first time through. Everything doesn't come back around because we need to hold onto it/see it as something important. But sometimes we get useful information/situations that we can use later. Things turn around that we wish hadn't, but can later see how this turnaround/delay or stop, was beneficial.

Often the best way through a dicey Mercury retrograde - and any retrograde that takes us through two different signs looks dicey to me - is to give our attention to what comes to our attention and/or what has been previously neglected to free our hands up to get to something new when the retro period ends.

Let's unpack the chart for this particular Mercury retrograde:

 

The way something starts is always a good harbinger of what is going to play out and this retrograde starts with Mercury applying to his Saturn conjunction - so we are approaching something serious and need to re-think/re-vise before we get THERE.  

 

Mercury is in an EXACT square to Uranus. We know we have had Saturn in an exact square to Uranus three times in 2021. Now, Mercury stations just as he reaches his/her (our) square. And Uranus is the modern ruler of Aquarius - so Mercury is answering to him. 

 

Squares bring tension/frustration. Mercury has replaced Saturn in the Saturn/Uranus square of last year, so maybe news is upsetting, disruptive or controversial. Whatever happens it is intended for our thinking to change, we will NOT be able to stick with an out-of-date point of view.

 

Before our thinking/situation meets Saturn (reality/the cement), it has to CHANGE (Uranus). And we know we are going to be back here again after Mercury stations direct, so the change is subject to change!

We get the first Mercury square Uranus on January 14th - a change of direction/thinking and then Mercury will be back on this degree on February 24th, but Uranus will have moved on to 11 degrees Taurus. 

The next day, Mercury will reach 11 degrees Aquarius (February 25th) and square Uranus for the second time - the change changes.

Keep in mind exact dates are tricky with this stuff.

 

Just know whatever changes is subject to more change. This DOES NOT bring us back to where we started because Uranus has since stationed direct and moved on. The first change has changed us AND the future.

 

Another thing in play during this retrograde is Mercury's sextile to Chiron. You might remember it was Saturn's recurring sextiles to Chiron that brought in the healing energies in 2021. So again, Mercury is replacing Saturn. Bringing new ideas/new thinking/new information to HEALING. This aspect is going to repeat on February 24th, too, and this is also the day Venus makes her second sextile to Neptune.

With Mercury, (from Aquarius) replacing Saturn as he/she (we) move through 2021's BIG Uranus squares and Chiron sextiles - we will be bringing the collective hive-mind, new information/conversations/ideas/genius/logic/reason in to replace what has grown out-dated, traditional, too limited. 

 

How does this apply to our own story? 

Another BIG part of this Mercury retrograde is Mercury's multiple meetings with powerful Pluto. 

 

We had the first meeting back on December 30th, a day after Mercury met Venus. So, a conversation started around the end of December. Venus was already retrograde, she had just met Pluto then she meets Mercury then he meets Pluto. 

 

Mercury/Pluto can stir up our fears, obsessions, passions, verbal super-powers, sometimes even TRUTH. That retro Venus might have brought back an old-love/old-ambition. Whatever this is, by the time Mercury gets past Pluto for the final time (when is that mid February?) the hooks and tangles that have been pulling us somewhere we no longer belong will be GONE. 

 

We will know our own mind. 

 

Whatever is left of it anyway :)

 

(will also be something here helpful for releasing what we have gathered in the name of 'fear', but that will be up to us ...)

 

Here are some key dates -

DECEMBER 29TH -  Mercury reaches 24 degrees Cappy and meets Venus - this is the degree he will station direct on February 3rd - this is the degree of the Sun on January 14th when Mercury stations retrograde, and, also where Pluto (death, transformation) was parked for much of 2021 opposing the United States natal Mercury at 24 Cancer.

DECEMBER 30TH - Mercury meets Pluto - part 1 of 3 - this is the day after he meets up with a retrograde Venus, who has also just met Pluto, so he picks up a piece of her story now, this pulls Mercury into the Venus retrograde story

JANUARY 9TH - Mercury direct sextiles Chiron (pulling Mercury into the 2021 Saturn/Chiron sextile as a stand-in for Saturn) part 1 of 3

JANUARY 14TH -  Mercury stations retrograde 10 degrees Aquarius, the Sun is on 24 Cappy, Mercury is squaring Uranus an 10 degrees Taurus (pulling Mercury into the Saturn/Uranus square of 2021 as a stand-in for Saturn)

JANUARY 18TH - Mercury retrograde sextiles Chiron - part 2 of 3

JANUARY 23RD - Sun meets Mercury/inferior conjucntion - here is the mid-point of the Mercury retro journey, HERE is a light on what this is about for us/moment of clarity

JANUARY 26TH - Mercury retrograde trines the North Node in Taurus (sextiles South Node in Scorpio)

JANUARY 28TH - Mercury retrograde meets Pluto - part 1 of 2

JANUARY 30TH - Sun squares Uranus from 10 degrees Aquarius, the degree of Mercury's station on January 14th

FEBRUARY 3RD - Mercury stations direct at 24 degrees Cappy (opposing the United States natal Mercury)

FEBRUARY 11TH - Mercury direct meets Pluto - part 2 of 2

FEBRUARY 24TH - Mercury direct sextiles Chiron, Mercury direct squares Uranus (part 3 of 3 for both)

MARCH 2ND - Mercury direct finally meets Saturn

 

Of course, we will talk about all this as we move through it. 

 

This is all part of the shamanic evolutionary process we are all going through together (Sedna!).

 

Have I said that the United States first ever Pluto return happens in the midst of all this? Well, I guess now I have. Post coming about that. 

 

I hope something here is helpful.

xo all

artwork by the talented Pertaret

venus retrograde meets the Sun | January 8th, 2022 - a light on what we want/value, seeing the real worth of our efforts, our actions can be challenged by what we can't control, allowing things to unfold/unwind, swimming against the tide just wears us out/gets us wetter

 

For SATURDAY - the Moon is in fiery Aries now - we are nourished/nurtured by moving our body, starting, taking action, passion, arguments (sometimes), men. Her only aspect today is a smooth sextile to Mercury at 7 degrees Aquarius. Good for new conversations (keep in mind Mercury is walking degrees he will walk two more times during his upcoming retrograde, so ideas/communications/information - nothing is set in stone here), writing, commerce, opportunities through siblings, our local community, our tech, transportation. Mercury is cutting edge in Aquarius, our minds are linked up with the FUTURE/humanity. 

This is a BIG day for Venus as she meets up with the Sun - reaching the mid-point of her 40 day/40 night retrograde cycle. HERE is a light on what this Venus retrograde is about for us. Can we see the real worth of our efforting? What have we learned?

A message comes in now, likely expressed through a Venusian situation - relationships, love, our values, self-esteem. 

 

Since Venus started her retrograde cycle as omicron was announced as a new variant, maybe now is when we get some enlightening data/sense of what is happening.

Venus also rules beauty, so changes are good while Venus is retrograde, we are "re"vising after all, but only if it’s something we used to love and/or can be easily reversed once Venus is direct, in case we find the change something we are not loving later on. Move the couch, but don't buy a new couch, for example.

At the same time the Sun is meeting Venus, he is sextiling Pallas at 18 degrees Pisces and Mars (18 Sagittarius) is squaring Pallas.

 

Mars square Pallas and applying to his upcoming square to Neptune speaks of tension/frustration/delays with our QUEST. Our actions can drift off course. Here in New Jersey, we've just had a snowstorm and everyone is sick, was sick or is probably about to be sick. Pushing through a Neptune square is like trying to fight water/swim against the tide. 

 

Better to go with the flow of that smooth sextile between the Sun and Pallas.

 

We are working with our intuition and spirit, offering compassion/rest/healing/imagination, connecting illusive dots as a STRATEGY.

 

Ultimately this is another Saturn/Neptune - making the dream real with maybe a sacrifice/release necessary before things can stabilize. Patience is par for the course here. Also keep in mind, although Mars is squaring Pallas, the Moon, answering to Mars through Aries is sextiling (opportunity) Mercury. Talk about something new. The North Node is still Gemini - there are more choices than we think there are. Ask new/smarter, less emotional questions.

 

Know there are almost certainly going to be delays and changes of directions over the next month, take care of yourself - this is all in bigger hands than ours ....

xo all - back with a post about Mercury's upcoming retrograde, the second part of the Nodal shift AND, I think, we'll take a look at next week's Cancer Full Moon this weekend, get a jump on things with that and see where this two week cycle winds up

 

note - people with planets/points nearest 18 degrees will probably feel these energies strongest as well as people with natal aspects getting repeated (regardless of signs) through these transits and probably Venus ruled Taurus and Libra risings