Category: Evolutionary Astrology

Astrology Highlights for January & February 2012

Thursday, 12 January 2012 18:47 1 Comment

We began the year with an opposition between Jupiter and Saturn that will last until mid February. Saturn represents the structure, stability and groundedness in our lives, what we’re working diligently on to create in the material world. It also may signal a time to look at where we feel blocked and challenged by the various brick walls of reality, sometimes leading to a feeling of discouragement or depression. Jupiter represents hope and optimism, an inner sense we can expand and accomplish anything in alignment with our beliefs. So this tension between the possibilities of who we are and the apparent limitations of the world sets the entry level stage of 2012. On January 1st significant planets are talking to Saturn (connected by aspect: Pluto & Sun by quintile, a creative vibration between the structuring principle and transformation and identity, Neptune by trine (flow between structure and higher love), Uranus by quincunx (hard to find a connection between the structure and the need for freedom and enlightenment), and of course that opposition to Jupiter.

Meanwhile Pluto is in Capricorn, continuing our ongoing saga of transformation of all structures. You might see how the opposition of Saturn to Jupiter is related. We have to transform the parts of our lives, and our world, that are no longer sufficient to hold a container for our expanded beliefs. As Neptune enters the sign of Pisces on February 3rd to stay until around 2026, we will be infused with a greater level of heart and spirit than we can probably imagine, although if we were paying attention last year between April and August we had a taste of this genuinely compassionate, intuitive, spirit infused field of consciousness that holds a good part of the key to our world’s transition. On the shadow side, we must be mindful of addictive and mind numbing activities. We are called to surrender to that we cannot control, each of us a conduit for unconditional love and compassion.

I’ve been feeling an interesting window of time between the full Moon we just had on January 8th and the new Moon on January 22nd. It feels like we’re still working with the energies to release old patterns during this time, and not ready for a real new year’s start until the new moon in Aquarius on Sunday the 22nd of January. This is a great time to get your life in order and slowly put your new year’s plans into effect. Yet, right with that new moon, Mars will go retrograde on January 23rd at 23 degrees of Virgo. The action planet in the sign of diligent work indicates there’s still more to review. Between this retrograde of initiating force and a Saturn retrograde beginning February 7th, we may feel like our plans are not generating the results we’re hoping for. The answer is to be patient, do the work, be conscientious about the details, and take the long term view during this period of time that lasts until April 13 (Mars direct) and June 24 (Saturn direct). It’s not that nothing happens in a retrograde period, it’s that there’s a great deal of internal work to do and the energies we are cultivating now will often pay off later.

The natural rhythm of things:
START ON NEW MOONS / COMPLETE ON FULL MOONS
January Full Moon: January 8 @ 11:30 pm PST: 19 degrees Cancer
January New Moon: January 22 @ 11:40 pm: 3 degrees Aquarius
February Full Moon: February 7 @ 1:54 pm PST: 19 degrees Leo
February New Moon: February 21 @ 2:34 pm PST: 3 degrees Pisces

Mercury Retrogrades – the year of the Action/Emotional (Fire & Water Sign) review
March 11 to April 4 – 7 degrees Aries back to 24 Pisces
July 14 to August 7 – 13 degrees Leo back to 2 degrees Leo
November 6 to November 25 – 5 degrees Sagittarius back to 19 degrees Scorpio

Reflection on Truth

Monday, 28 November 2011 07:34 0 Comments

In the United States, we are in a potentially meaningful period between two holidays. Thanksgiving invites us to reflect on what we are grateful for. Despite economic and political upheaval, we have much to be grateful for. Beauty is everywhere; possibilities for acceptance or change, conscious contraction or vibrant expansion are within us with every thought. Then we come to the winter holidays, from Solstice, Christmas, Chanukkah or celebrations of the New Year turning. Celebrated with gift giving and the sharing of food, we consider the families we were born into and the families we have created. Perhaps more than other times of the year we are encouraged to give to those who have less resources. Many of us have been finding creative ways to celebrate the holidays to create more balance and less stress, finding the kernels of wisdom and truth inherent in holiday celebrations and then taking actions that open our hearts. We can volunteer, donate our time and resources, or spend time in meditation or in a yoga class. We have endless possibilities to create new traditions.

The planetary alignments add extra symbolic meaning to our reflection this year. On the evening of November 23rd, Mercury went retrograde in the sign of Sagittarius. Then the next night on Thanksgiving evening, there was a solar eclipse in Sagittarius. Jupiter, the ruling planet of Sagittarius is retrograde now and turns direct on Christmas day. Let’s break this down into English.

Mercury retrogrades, despite their poor reputation for ‘causing’ equipment failures and plane delays, are really about thinking about issues more deeply, covering territory already covered. Eclipses are shift or starting points; I like to think of them as new moons with fire power. Sagittarius is about the meaning of life, from religions, philosophies and belief systems, to the meaning we find through higher education and exploring the world. With Sagittarius we range from wisdom and faith to expansion, greed and folly. So the astrological symbolism tells us we are pondering the choices we’ve made based on our beliefs at one point in time, and we’re also triggered to make new choices based on expanded or new beliefs. On the personal level this is about getting your life right … making choices that are in alignment with your truth, being willing to expand your consciousness and perhaps take a leap of faith. On the global level, we are contemplating the expansionist choices that have led us into misery, and with Venus in Sag moving toward Pluto as the Mercury retrograde unfolds we may be looking at the role of the feminine and right relationship to transform and heal our planet.

On Christmas Day, Jupiter turns direct from its retrograde in the sign of Taurus, about halfway through its transit of one year in this sign. Taurus is the sign of the human animal, what we know instinctively in our body — our need for security and comfort. Taurus is grounded, patient and practical. Jupiter in this sign asks us to know our higher truth intuitively through the physical and to carry out our beliefs and values in a grounded way.
Jupiter asks the question ‘how have I underestimated myself or sold myself short?’ and Taurus adds ‘in my need for security and comfort and in my connection to physical reality’, and perhaps even asks us to look more deeply at our connection with the Earth herself.

A New Moon Extravaganza!

Tuesday, 27 September 2011 05:24 2 Comments

I love new Moons. Just the thought that we get a chance to start again every month in alignment with the Sun and Moon, the energies of yin and yang shining on us together, makes me smile. Of course, every day is an opportunity to start anew, but new Moons have been an event for as long as we could see the sky.

This new Moon is exactly at 4 degrees of Libra, the sign of relationship, balance and beauty. Mercury, the energy of communication, is right there at 3 degrees while Venus and Saturn sit off to the side in Libra as well. Venus is THE planet of relationship while Saturn represents accomplishing goals through hard work and discipline. This whole stellium is opposing the revolutionary energies of Uranus and in a challenging square to transformative Pluto. A very powerful dynamic, mimicking the radical energy set in motion in the summer of 2009.

Additionally we will remember that we had several eclipses at the beginning of this summer. The July 1st eclipse was at 9 degrees of Cancer (rounding out the t-square to a full, four legged table if we imagine its energy still vibrating) and this eclipse is coming to fruition now. So we have a transformative new start on top of the eclipse initiating energies, like a giant wave coming in on top of a previous giant wave.

Whatever you’ve been thinking about changing, it’s about to change! That’s the bottom line. Relationships, where you live, your work, the possibilities are endless. You know your choices, you’ve probably been weighing and balancing several dilemmas. Change can be challenging; we all like the comfort of familiarity, and the world has been feeling rather shaky lately.

Mars, the planet of action aligns with the key players of this transformative square adding even more energy to the mix. Mars says be bold and brave, feel your courage. I’ve got your back. Or, if you won’t jump, I’ll push you!

In a more metaphysical realm, I’ve noticed the energies of manifestation have been increasing another notch lately as well. Focus on what you believe to be your highest vision, your bravest role, your ideal model. Allow the Universe to surprise you with an outcome even better than you imagined. This is a time to get out of the way of the details, releasing anxiety and stress.

It’s birth time for our projects, dreams and relationship visions. Change is good.

Here comes another Obama

Wednesday, 14 September 2011 21:33 2 Comments

I was reading a progressive blog the other day where they were complaining that Obama was not really a good leader, doing too little too late, and prone to go into negotiations and immediately take the other person’s side, giving away too much. As he sees all sides of an issue and calmly discusses issues in a detached and bi-partisan way, he has lost some support from many who hoped for more change in this first four years.

Why that sounds just like me! I thought to myself. I don’t study his chart all of the time or know it well, but I knew he’s a Leo with Aquarius rising and the south Node of the Moon in Aquarius also. This gives him a polarity that is likely to shift from detached and truly humanitarian, believing in bi-partisanship and equality — to a charismatic and more eloquent approach to life and politics, perhaps even leaning to elitism. We’ve seen both sides clearly. But why the appearance of being permeable to others and giving away the negotiations?

The progressed Moon gave me an answer. Progressions show our slow deep development as souls through an incarnation, and even beyond. The progressed Moon sign changes roughly every two and a half years, just as the actual Moon sign changes every two and a half days. During the election in 2008, Obama’s progressed Moon was in the sign of Aquarius, a comfortable sign for him that allowed him to exude his higher consciousness and calling to the public. And remember how much he seemed to be accomplishing in the first months, jumping in rapidly to many issues. Then in October 2009, barely getting into the swing of things, the progressed Moon changed signs into Pisces …and in the first house of the persona, where he approaches life through the veil of this new lens until this coming October, a fairly fast progression. In fact on October 9th around 6 am he’s likely going to wake up from a bad dream where he realizes he’s been trying to run a country from the midst of a mystical fog, deception all around him.

Ah Pisces! I have a lot of it and I love it in others, but I wouldn’t want to be running a country with this kind of permeable, intuitive, soft, compassionate love vibe. How can you make a decision when you see the higher vision of everything and everyone? And negotiations? Forget it. My cat has more negotiating savvy than I do.

No matter what your politics are, strong leadership of a country is beneficial. I feel we can expect to see a more fiery, aggressive leadership style emerge in Obama in October when he enters a two and one half period of the progressed Moon in Aries. Courage, drive, assertiveness, anger and the ability to champion causes are all hallmarks of Aries energy. These will be beneficial balancing traits to the detachment of Aquarius and will flow a fire vibration to the mission path of Leo. And in early 2012 as his progressed Moon connects with the radical unpredictable energy of Uranus, we can’t really predict what will happen, except to say the political energy of 2012 is guaranteed to be an amazing show!

Warren Buffett: Billionaire Bath Taker

Thursday, 25 August 2011 18:10 0 Comments

The news this morning is that Warren Buffett called the CEO of Bank of America and offered to invest $5 billion in the company to help them out, immediately raising B of A stock 12% but also ensuring some likely sweet profits for Buffett. I’ve been interested in Buffett since I saw an interview of a young woman who wrote his biography for him, and she talked about how calm, relaxed and balanced he was as he went through life. Recently he suggested that the ultra wealthy really should pay more taxes, and he has been getting billionaires to sign a pledge to give away half of their wealth by the end of their lives to charitable causes. Last I heard he had 40 signers. That’s a lot of money. What an interesting human!

But what really tickled me this morning was this line:

“Buffett told CNBC he had never spoken to Bank of American CEO Brian Moynihan before Wednesday, and that he dreamed up the idea while taking a bath”

Basically he’s telling us that creative ideas come to us when we’re relaxing, that we’re more intuitive then, that we ‘dream up’ ideas. I so agree with this. When we have problems to solve, too much thinking blocks our creativity and often moves us into stress and anxiety, lost in habit loops of the mind.

So as we come into the last day of the Mercury retrograde, getting ready for the New Moon in Virgo on Sunday — lots of initiating, moving forward energy in the next month, let’s take a bath, a walk, a dip in the pool. We’ll meet in creative dreamland, solving problems and creating magical solutions!

For astrology buffs: I wanted to see where the water is in his chart, knowing there would have to be. He’s a Virgo sun sign with Neptune conjunct, adding that watery Piscean flair for compassion and concern for those less fortunate with a strong alignment to service. Additionally he has Pluto, Jupiter and Mars all in Cancer. Pluto is often associated with wealth and power, Jupiter with fortune, and they square his nodes of the Moon, indicating he really has to own those energies well to find the independence, freedom and aliveness he seeks for this life. The New Moon on Sunday will be right on his Sun.

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