the astrology of february 2022 | a time of miracles, the rising feminine, the future and soul growth ....

 

 Yes, we are taking an early look at February! 

 

I saw some good stuff for us personally and think we can use some good news. We begin the month with a BIG New Moon in future/equality-focused Aquarius, so we will feel the NEW right out of the gate. The Moon's square to Uranus brings in, through tension/frustration - uncomfortable change over the next month. That's OK, we've got this thing. Mercury quickly stations direct, right on that powerful 24 Cappy where Pluto popped a LONG squat in 2021 - delays will end. Things will start moving forward. The month has multiple sextiles and trines - lots of opportunities and winds at our back. Maybe the biggest opportunity is mid-month's Jupiter/Uranus sextile (luck through change, miracles from chaos) and Pluto's trine to the North Node - letting go of fear/moving past the death through a smooth alignment with the future. ALL MONTH lovers Venus and Mars are traveling together, meeting at the BIG Leo Full Moon (cardinal cross) mid-month and closing out the month - feminine and masculine energy combined/balanced, what we want/what we have to do to get what we want - with their own smooth energetic trine with THE FUTURE.

Let's unpack the month!

 

 (I will probably add to this as we move along)

FEBRUARY 1ST - New Moon in Aquarius (12 degrees), Juno enters Aquarius - the month kicks off with a BIG New Moon in Aquarius, so it will FEEL like a new month right away. The Moon meets the Sun at 12 degrees - they are both applying to Saturn conjunctions, so we will feel the weight of our moves/decisions now. Something is getting shored up/becoming more solid. There are limits/rules. Maybe we are drawing a line in the sand. Ceres will be conjunct the North Node. Venus will be conjunct Vesta. Season of life situations will pull us forward/important compromises are possible. What we want could be keeping us up at night. That's OK, it is just becoming more REAL. Mars will be approaching his beloved Venus. What we want and what we have to do to get what we want are coming together. They will be exact around the middle of the month, but this is really in play all month. The feminine and the masculine coming together in a serious/sober sign - cardinal earth - starting something real. The sign that builds things that last. The Moon is squaring Uranus - so this New Moon is birthed through uncomfortable change. We are used to this. We can do this. We were born for this. That is the 2020's - uncomfortable change. Maybe toss some rocks under your mattress - let's get used to this and get on with things.

 

FEBRUARY 3RD - Mercury stations direct at 24 degrees Cappy - this is the flashing GREEN LIGHT we have been waiting for (maybe give him/her a couple days to get up to speed). Delays will end. Stuck situations will start to move forward. Minds will change.

 

FEBRUARY 4TH - Mars sextile Jupiter (8 degrees Cappy/Pisces), Sun conjuncts Saturn (15 Aqua) - the Sun meets Saturn - this is the serious part of our New Moon story. Reality checks/commitments/responsibilities. Here are the rules/the limits. What we can't do/have/be. At the same time, Mars, uber productive in the sign of Capricorn moves into an opportunistic sextile with Jupiter. Here is EXPANSION, LUCK. Take sober action. Step into your authority/responsibility. Big girl pants on. As long as we aren't in lalaland (taking that Jupiter in Pisces too far) this is a SOLID GOOD THING. Stay optimistic/have faith. Take something further. Note - this is earth and water and in order to 'get lucky', we need to take action. We want to be building bricks and not just hoping (although hoping and staying optimistic is good, too) that the earth and water will come together and make something other than a mudslide. Saturn shows us the reality of the situation and Mars/Jupiter says, "OK, but let's do this".

 

FEBRUARY 6TH - Mars squares Chiron (9 degrees Cappy/Aries) - now, Mars is hitting the painful squares to Chiron that Venus/Mercury/the Sun did last month. Something is standing in our way - probably ourselves with Chiron in Aries. Chiron in Aries is answering to a strong and stable Mars in Cappy, so I think we need to be brave here. Standing up for ourselves/being ourselves/knowing we can take care of ourselves is challenged. But look, Mars is applying to a smooth trine to change-maker/higher-mind Uranus - here is a way through.

 

FEBRUARY 8TH -  Mars trines Uranus (11 degrees Cappy/Taurus), 1st Quarter Moon (19 degrees Taurus), Ceres enters Gemini - so now, Mars, the general in Capricorn is trining Uranus. The trine is arguably the best aspect in astrology. Something is falling into place. This is Cappy/Taurus - something makes sense/cents. This is earth, so we need to be practical, but this is chaotic Uranus, so we need to do something differently. We are leaning into the future here and the future is leaning back into us. Take new action. At the same time our New Moon from the beginning of the month has worked her way into Taurus and is squaring the Cappy Sun. This is tension/frustration between the future and the now. The change and the comfort. New money and old money. The Sun, not happy in Aqua, is answering to Uranus and we've already said he is making a trine to a strong Mars, so here is our way through - sober, practical action. This is also the day Ceres leaves her garden and ventures out into the local community - Gemini. Ceres was on the North Node (how we are going to get where we are going) at that New Moon last week and now she is ready for more choices/to ask new questions. This is about smart nurturing. We learn and then we respond to what we have learned. More change.

 

FEBRUARY 11TH - Mercury meets Pluto (third of three, first time at 27 Cappy)- we've been here before. Mercury met Pluto on December 30th, then retrograde on January 28th and now we get the final pow-wow today. This is the 27 degrees that has been powering up all the Full Moons. They have met before, but not exactly here. Something has moved on. Things have changed/shifted. Mercury/Pluto. Words/ideas are powerful. Truth/what has been buried can come out.  This aspect increases our focus. Conversations/information can be intense. Feel like life and death. Mercury is applying to his smooth trine to the North Node, so it is likely whatever this is, is part of how we are going to get where we are going.

 

FEBRUARY 12TH - Mercury trines North Node (27 Cappy/Taurus) - fresh off his pow-wow with transformative/deadly Pluto, Mercury (our thinking, communications, commerce, movement, transportation, tech, siblings, local community) moves into smooth flow - the brakes are off - with our best future. PAY ATTENTION. Good news can come in. Ideas/information are like apples READY TO BE PICKED. With the North Node (way forward) in Taurus - this can be about our money, values, self-esteem. Maybe one door is closed (if something closed with that Mercury/Pluto it is permanent, don't spend alot of time wallowing because you need to see this open window over there) and now another door/window opens. Make/take the call. Earth trines are mega-powerful.

FEBRUARY 14TH - Pluto trines North Node! (27 degrees Capricorn), Pallas enters Aries, Mercury enters Aquarius - so, now here is Pluto, fresh off his pow wow with Mercury, trining the North Node, too. HERE is the way this dead earth is going to be repopulated. HERE is what we can plant now. HERE is a smooth way forward. This is real power/strength. HERE is where we pour our energy into the future - THAT Taurus House (we'll look at the North Node by house before this date and I will link to it here, in the meantime HERE is our first North Node Taurus post). Keep in mind these trines to the North Node are sextiles to the South Node - so an opportunity to release a fear/something that is dead/something that is too complicated. This is an incredibly powerful aspect folks. Earth trines are mega-powerful and when Pluto is involved this is very potent and amped up.

 

Our warrior queen Pallas enters Aries. Yes, she is answering to her brother now and their relationship can be testy. Still, she surely likes Aries much better than Pisces. Here she can take new action. Merge smart strategies and COURAGE. Mercury re-enters Aquarius. We were last here on January 8th. Now the ideas we have been re-thinking/re-working are moving forward. This is fixed air, so people are not so flexible, but at least we get some fresh air and Mercury likes air/works well here. Mercury in Aqua is about clear-headed/dispassionate thinking focused on the future. Its clarity comes from a space of detachment. We mentally step back a little bit and the picture in our head gets a little clearer/our words a little more sharp. I like that this is happening as Pallas (maybe a future co-ruler for Aquarius) moves into fire.

FEBRUARY 15TH - Sun squares North Node (27 Aqua/Taurus) - we knew with the Sun in a fixed sign and the North/South Nodes in fixed signs we were going to have this square this month (we will have another one with the Sun in Leo next summer). This is tension/frustration. A light on something we need to get past/release, etc before we can go any further. Don't disregard problems now. Don't push things under the rug. We NEED to deal with this before Mars/Venus trine the North Node at the end of the month. What is in your way? What can you do about it? This is pulled into our Full Moon story, so will play out over the next couple weeks. We will look at the Moon here as we get closer to this to see what she is up to.

FEBRUARY 16TH - Full Moon in Leo (27/28 degrees Leo), Venus conjuncts Mars (16 degrees Capricorn) - the Leo Moon opposes the Aquarius Sun at 27 degrees (and 59 seconds). The Moon is squaring the Nodes of Fate. The Moon is in the Sun's sign and the Sun (the king) is in the sign of his detriment (opposite his sign) so neither is very happy here.

 

Not sure I like the looks of this Moon for the U.S./Biden - although whatever is happening fate is playing her hand and the masculine/feminine energies are uniting/equalizing through it. The Moon is inconjunct Pluto which is applying to the first ever U.S. Pluto return - exact in this Full Moon cycle, pretty much exact right now. The Moon is conjunct asteroid Damocles - the peril that hangs over power. She opposes the United States natal Moon (the people). The South Node is on Biden's Sun. The Full Moon in Leo is conjunct Biden's natal Chiron/North Node conjunction (also his progressed Chiron/North Node exact now on his descendant - natally he has Uranus on his descendant just as the U.S. does) and forming a Grand Cardinal Cross (seeds of change) with his Sun and the Nodes (the North Node on the U.S. natal Wuhan/Pandora conjunction and Kamala Harris's natal Jupiter). This Moon trines (brakes off) Kamala Harris's Sun. This Moon is also conjunct, within seconds, the 2017 Leo Solar Eclipse that split America in two. We talked about that one and her connections to Trump and covid - HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.

 

We will talk about this in the U.S. Pluto return series coming up next.

We'll talk about this Moon in more detail for us personally as we get nearer, too, of course. Full Moons are times of peak energy/culminations/endings. With the Leo Full Moon squaring the Nodes of Fate - something has to change before we can go any further.

 

FEBRUARY 17TH - Jupiter sextile Uranus (11 degrees Pisces/Taurus) - Jupiter had a tense/frustrating square with Uranus from Aquarius on January 17, 2021, now, this year, with Jupiter moved into watery Pisces we get an opportunistic sextile. 

 

BIG moves/faith can pull us into the future/shore up our resources/make us money. The unexpected/different/chaotic can make us lucky. Miracles can happen. Again, with Jupiter in Pisces we can't be in "lalaland here", can't sleep/drink/escape our way through this. Keep in mind this Jupiterian LUCK will come in through bigger hands than ours/may not look the way we are expecting. We can't force our size 9 feet into size 7 shoes, even if they look way cuter. Something here is bigger than we are. Again this opportunity is water and earth, so cue the 'building bricks/clay' - requirement of a little action on our part. What's that story about the guy who asks God when he gets to heaven why he never won the lottery and God answered, "well, did you ever help me out and buy a ticket?". Buy a ticket.

 

FEBRUARY 18TH - Sun into Pisces - the Sun leaves Aquarius, the sign of his detriment, and moves into idealistic/imaginative Pisces. Our Pisces house is LIT. Our attention goes THERE. And we can all feel a little bit of what it's like to be a Pisces - we get more sensitive, more intuitive, more imaginative/artistic, more spiritual/connected, maybe more nostalgic, able to grieve what needs grieving, hopefully we become more compassionate. Often we need more rest. It's like we all get a taste of a 12th house Sun for a while and need to find ways to rejuvenate. While in Pisces the Sun will meet up with Jupiter and Neptune and sextile (opportunity) with the North Node and Pluto. How does Pisces energy work with your own Sun sign - give that one a think.

FEBRUARY 23RD - Mars sextile Neptune - (13 degrees Cappy/Pisces), Last Quarter Moon (5 degrees Sagittarius) - Mars reaches 13 degrees Cappy and moves into an opportunistic sextile with Neptune. Here is our solid/practical actions making the dream real. Note - Neptunian dream-making can sometimes require a sacrifice - we give up this to get that. Sometimes I find it's sleep I need to give up to get everything done that needs doing. This aspect speaks of gentle AND productive actions. This is also the day that Aqua New Moon/Leo Full Moon reaches her final square with the Sun - this time from 5 degrees Sagittarius. Maybe our beliefs are tested. A hope can fade. This is tension.frustration. We have that Mars sextile - sensible action/stepping into responsibility/our authority to move us through this one.

FEBRUARY 24RD - Mercury sextile Chiron (10 degrees Aqua/Aries), Venus sextile Neptune (22 degrees Capricorn/Pisces), Mercury squares Uranus (11 degrees Aqua/Taurus) - with Mercury squaring Uranus maybe some upsetting or disruptive news/information comes in. Conversations can be challenging. The good news here is Mercury's healing opportunity with Chiron, so the conversation needs to happen. The words spoken. The potentially shocking news absorbed. Very old/very deep wounds are being healed here. At the same time Venus, still in Capricorn (and how is this even possible?!) moves into an opportunistic flow with Neptune. She is doing what Mars did yesterday, so this is probably all the same thing. What we want/what we have to do to get what we want in line with our dreams/our spirits.

 

FEBRUARY 28TH - Mars/Venus trine North Node  (25 degrees Cappy/Taurus) - the month that starts off with a brand new vibe, brings miracles that sometimes hits us like a pouncing lion, finally closes out with this combining of the masculine and feminine energies in a beautiful/productive trine to our North North (how we are going to get where we are going) and sextile (opportunity) with the South Node (what is holding us back). Something forward-leaning can fall right into place here. Losses/letting go of fears and complications also create opportunity. We are moving into the future from a less fractured/more balanced position.

xo all

artwork by the talented Borda

weekly astrology forecast for creatives | January 17 - 23, 2022 - powerful endings, Aquarius season kicks off, changes with our money and values, lightbulb moments, new instructions

MONDAY - Full Moon in Cancer

TUESDAY - Uranus stations direct (in Taurus), Nodes enter Taurus/Scorpio

WEDNESDAY - Sun enters Aquarius and trines the North Node

THURSDAY - Mars conjuncts Galactic Center

SUNDAY - Sun conjuncts Mercury (retrograde)

Aquarius season kicks off with a BANG. Let's unpack the week!

On MONDAY - the Cancer Moon opposes the Capricorn Sun giving us this month's Full Moon, our annual Full Moon in Cancer - we talked about coming home to ourselves HERE. 

 

The Moon opposed to powerful Pluto will make endings/transformations PERMANENT.

On TUESDAY - Uranus stations direct at 10 degrees Taurus AND the Nodes of the Moon (fate) back into Taurus - North Node, how we are going to get where we're going - and Scorpio - South Node, what is holding us back. 

Uranus is our 'awakener' energy. Think hive-mind. Think rock-n-roll. Think earthquake. He gets us from point A to point B in the most efficient fashion (SUDDEN CHANGE), sometimes dropping us on our ass in the process. Uranus has been retrograde since August 19th. Our planets/points from 7-9 degrees Taurus can relax. Uranus is done with you. He won't be back here. Now, he starts moving forward from 10 degrees Taurus - steamrolling through our collective house of resources, money, our values, our self-esteem. Changing what we own. Changing what we value. Changing how we make our money and how our money connects to how we see ourselves. Pulling us into the future and the future back to meet us. Change is not an option. We've been here before, so if something changes direction now, it's not like we didn't see this coming ....

At the same time, the Nodes of Fate, after 18 months, leave Gemini/Sagittarius (breathe a sign of relief Gemini/Sags!) and move into Taurus/Scorpio. Collectively think - financial RESET.

 

We started talking about this in Part I - HERE.

 

With the North Node answering to a retrograde Venus, her way through Capricorn (or wherever she is, she is currently retrograding in Cappy) becomes OUR way through life. Build her a shrine. #kidding #not kidding. Actually the way to 'build her a shrine' is to respect Taurus's Venusian energy. Take care of what you own. Make a budget (I am not talking about being a tightwad, but consciously knowing where your money is going). Grow some food and eat it. Slow your roll/take time to savor what matters to you. 

 

I also like Ceres as at least co-ruler for Taurus and she has just stationed direct (in Taurus). Both Venus and Ceres are BIG players as the United States rolls into her first EXACT Pluto return on 2/20/22. With transiting Ceres EXACT on President Biden' Uranus that day and transiting Jupiter conjunct the U.S. natal Ceres AND transiting Venus conjunct both the Cappy HOT degrees "time runs out/power is cemented now updated to omicron" and Mars. 

 

We'll talk about this in the U.S. Pluto Return series.

 

With the South Node's move into Scorpio we aren't going to get anywhere mired in fear/death/obsession with CRISIS. If we don't start rising from these sweaty death bed sheets (also with Uranus in Taurus, stop scapegoating 'the other') we will be stuck. And Scorpio kind of stuck isn't like Sagittarius kind of stuck. Scorpio stuck is STUCK. Like big old wooden box in the ground kind of stuck.

 

EXAMPLE for Scorpio Rising (we'll get to all the signs in Part II). The North Node in Taurus will require you, in order to get where you want to go, to point your arrow toward OTHER PEOPLE. Yes, the unpredictable partners/contracts, etc, that have been shaking and quaking your world for the last couple years. The stuff/people you used to count on once upon a time, that haven't been so stable since Uranus entered Taurus in 2018. A focus on yourself/your physicality/your brand (Scorpio South Node and your first house) is going to keep you stuck - somewhere in here is the stuff you need to leave behind. The good news - the focus on partners/OTHER PEOPLE (and they are not going to stabilize, so here's the challenge) and making things more simple will reap you GREAT REWARDS. And you know I am not talking 'doormat' here, but going it alone isn't going to work. Unusual people can show up over the next 18 months. Maybe it's time to think about - who can I partner with and what's in it for them?

 

(this is not because what's in it for you doesn't matter Scorpio, but a focus on what's in it for them will get you 'what's in it for you') 

On WEDNESDAY - the Sun trines the North Node in Taurus and then moves into intelligent/detached Aquarius

With Uranus (Aqua's modern ruler) change of direction this week in Taurus and the North Node's entrance here and Mercury applying to his retrograde conjunction to the Sun - think "aha moments/flashes of insight" - maybe involving the future and our money/resources/what we value, so PAY ATTENTION to what comes to your attention. 

 

The Sun's trine to the North Node is his final aspect in Capricorn and the North Node's first aspect in Taurus. Both are POTENT. Our goals/responsibility/authority/Cappy house theme align us with the future. We won't have to push too hard/bang our head against the wall - something should fall into place here. The fly in the ointment is the Leo Moon will oppose Saturn today which is a depressing aspect, so we might need to check our ego at the door somehow. There could be rules/limits/restrictions. We will have to work for our 'applause/rewards' here and they will come over time/not immediately, but that's OK. The Moon's final aspect is a smooth trine to Mars. Keep going.

Once the Sun gets anchored in airy Aquarius things can start to lighten up. We can detach a bit from those Cappy goals/ambitions. Our Aqua house theme gets our ATTENTION/our life energy. This is a space we naturally 'step outside the box' and do our own thing. Sometimes as part of a group/cause and sometimes on our own. It's the space we connect to the 'future'. With Mercury here we can more easily translate 'the future' into words/ideas. Mercury will back into Cappy on January 24th, so we get a chance to see if these ideas/conversations/information have legs, before returning to Aquarius on February 14th (direct) when we will be full-steam ahead. 

 

The Sun will be in Aquarius until February 18th. 

On THURSDAY - Mars, nearing the end of his journey through fiery Sagittarius, crosses the Galactic Center - our homing signal/center of our Milky Way Galaxy. THIS is conjunct where the Sag South Node story started back in the spring of 2020 as Mars was opposing the Galactic Center and conjunct fixed star Algol and asteroids Pandora/Wuhan in the U.S. natal chart and we know what was blowing up back then. 

 

Now Mars (as us) is given a new comic download, new INSTRUCTIONS. New actions, new beliefs, new adventures. People with planets/points near 27 degrees of Sagittarius will feel this energy strongest, but it will be impacting everyone.

 

On SUNDAY - the Sun meets up with a retrograde Mercury at 3 degrees Aquarius. This is the mid-point of Mercury's retrograde cycle and his/her 'inferior conjunction' - the part of his retrograde cycle where a LIGHT SHINES ON WHAT THIS MERC RETRO HAS BEEN/IS ABOUT FOR US. 

Clarity. A future focused/logical conversation, idea or information comes in. Here is what we need to know NOW or the reason for what has previously been delayed/changed course.

(note this is also the day Mercury will inconjunct the North Node and semi-square Saturn, so it's more a time for insights than action)

 

Also note - this is a moment of clarity, but not an all-systems go signal. Big new moves should still wait until after February 3rd if possible. There is a New Moon in Pisces on March 2nd conjunct Jupiter that looks especially BENEFICIAL/potent - so time something for the days that follow as that one waxes if you can!

 

xo all - I hope something here is helpful.

artwork by the inspiring Duy Huynh

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