May and June!

Venus has been ruling the heavens from her own resplendent sign, Taurus, since the end of March.  Her first direct contact with the sun, or Venus transit, occurred on December 28th, 2011;  stop and think now, what were you doing right then?  Just a few days after Christmas;  were you paying all those bills?  Putting away the few things you bought?  Getting ready for the dreaded 2012????  If you care to think longer and harder, try to remember what you were doing on June 8th of 2008; it’s a while longer back, but whatever you were up to then can be remade, reimage, reduxed by this current transit of Venus.

The angel of sweet charity, cold hard cash, real estate and romance turns about in the heavens and advances to the rear on May 15th at 733AM Pacific, 1033AM eastern time.  The sun will have just entered sidereal Taurus at 103AM Pacific time.  The sun tends to overwhelm the other planets energies, wiping them out, like so many radio waves.  There is real danger now that we may be losing touch with our values.

A Venus retrograde was made for repairing any damage, righting the wrongs, reconnecting with friends and family, rekindling old sparks, reigniting old flames.  We use this most wisely when we carefully reevaluate our own set of values, recycling what no longer serves us.  This doesn’t mean sacrificing principle, Venus is all about Principle with a Capital.  An example of a value which no longer serves or is useful may be one of voluntarily taking on overtime to relieve a working mom, or of some excessive charity work which we can really no longer manage.  These are commendable values, but they may weigh on our aging joints, or cut into our budge;  we don’t want to assume the value of martyrs!

One of the chief values we may want to revisit now is that of our banking and financial institutions, assuming they survive.  Do they operate on professional lines, fairly and openly?  Or do we know for a fact they accepted a lesser standard than we would set for our own household management?

Not a sexy or exciting concept, but a valid one over which to ruminate over during this retrograde.  Another is real estate, as the sign Taurus rules land.  Do we really need the space, accommodations, and dimensions we have now, or would we be better off, really, with something different?

It goes without saying that we would not change our hair color, or take a trip to the thrift store to replenish our wardrobe 80s style, or do anything so harebrained as to fall in love, all Venus issues.  As she is backward, we know that we would be making a silly and avoidable mistake.

We could reconnect with our old selves, through a year book, old family photos, historical archives, or calling on older family members to get them talking about the past.

On the 20th of May the moon will renew itself in Taurus, a moment I usually plant good seeds aplenty;  since there will be a solar eclipse, and the renewal takes place with Venus retrograde, I plan to do more weeding than planting that evening!

On the 5th of June, or the 6th in some places, Venus retrograde will back seductively across the face of the sun in sidereal Taurus.  This is a time to pay very close attention to whatever scandalous activity is going on;  it will be spectacular, juicy and ripe.  We would wisely make certain that it would be someone else’s problem, too!!!

Venus will straighten her wild self out on June 26th, and fly right.  Now is not the time to act!!  It is time to reconsider all these things.

Spring New Moon!

The first hour of the sabbath day!!  This moment is now thrice blessed, as the moon comes new in the sacred sign of the Spring Lamb, Aries, at 1218AM Pacific time, 318AM eastern time, Saturday morning.  The greater malefic planets which share the heavens with the moon, Saturn the Lord of NO!!, and sulky devious Pluto, are both retrograde, where they can do little if any harm.  Mars, orb of fiery ambition and athletics, is direct, flying through sidereal Leo, the royal sign.  In short, the odds are seriously stacked in our favor for any project, quest, or whim which we launch now.

The new moon is the optimal time to weed through our spiritual garden in the midst of our life; what we really are about, what ennobles our journey, makes us better at being human, where we have decided to head after The Close of this earth-walk;  under Aries, we have a fresh start!!  All of creation is renewing itself now, especially that which lies deep within.

The planets make sweet harmony together until 1143PM Pacific time Sunday night;  we have till then to root through our ambitions, leadership qualities, first principles, and challenges, discovering what is pure gold and what needs to be ironed out!  We are kindest to ourselves if we include a varied program of vigorous exercise to our fresh to-do list!

March 2012

A few minutes after midnight on the morning of Monday March 12th, Mercury will flip around retrograde, against the stars of sidereal Pisces. Here we go again!!

Pisces is a sign of great release, intensity, and deep feeling. With the orb of communication here, we are apt to launch verbal tsunamis describing our feelings about other people (frequently past lovers), about the state of the world (so watch the politicos explode) or about how we feel about some event in the past. Venting, purging, and lancing wounds are good for us, especially if we journal all of this safely, or confide to a therapist or counselor.

This is a perfect time to go back into the past, review our feelings, and our feelings about our feelings. This is the time to change our minds, and our views, and our judgments. What a gift!! We have the window to change the past, by rethinking and forgiving it, thus rewiring our future reactions.

The caveat; this is also the time we tend to seriously question our serious commitments, customs, and common sense. Pisces is all about change, forward and back, back and forth, this way then that, what if, the road not taken… and so we may stray from our chosen path and partner now. Not out of accident or temptation but on purpose, to experience what might have been. This is never a good idea, certainly not the designed intention of a Mercury retrograde! If we wanted to explore these dramas in theatrical extravaganzas on the screen, we would be using our heads!

The friendships we make now will be intense, deep, full of life lessons, and brief. Those tales told about us will be colorful and memorable, but patently fabulous, quickly dispelled.

This bodes intriguingly for the 20th, spring equinox, which conditions colors the year ahead. Will we be in party mode for the rest of 2012? Will we be inclined to forgive and understand, healing and repairing what we touch?

On March 22nd the moon will come new in Pisces, which is always a time to plant deep seeds of redemption, sacrifice, and resurrection in our spiritual gardens; with Mercury retrograde this time around, we may want to focus on grace, forgiveness, and unconditional charity. The depths from which we can draw are oceanic!

Mercury will straighten up and fly right on the 4th of April, a few days before Easter.

Fat Tuesday 2012

 Tuesday the 21st is Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday, when all of us in the flesh find one intense fling, and party like it’s our last hour! At 235PM Pacific time Tuesday the moon comes new in Aquarius; a free thinking sign that engenders a fine time to think outrageous, outsized schemes. This Mardi Gras, though, both malifics, Mars and Saturn, are safely retrograde and out of the way; and the new moon occurs a few degrees away from Neptune, the Dreamer. This blue-green orb adds his own diaphanous mists of power, like a hint of jasmine in the cool air, that can bring our grand dreams to fruition, if we are Wise!!

Many modern astrologists consider Uranus, the Awakener, as the ruler of Aquarius, but anciently Saturn was seen as the real power behind Aquarius. This is because however free, liberated, and energized we may become, we still live within form, limit, and consequence. The sign so celebrated in song in the 60s’ as liberating, free, and energized has yet to express the form that freedom will take, encompass the energy plan which liberates, or reveal the force which energizes. Back in the 60s’ we all assumed this would be electricity, running far out into the suburbs where the freethinkers dwelt. Now, as we teeter on the edge of Aquarius, we find that electricity is encumbered by superstructure and infrastructure, perilously exposed to solar activity, and still produced by coal or oil; even the Prius, when plugged into our suburban electricity, is fed by coal or oil. We aren’t as free, as innovative, or as ecofriendly as we long to be, quite yet.

Saturn is also recognized as the Grim Reaper, the reminder that this indeed may well be our last fling, as spring unfolds but yet frosts over the fragile flowers and new buds. The world is cruel, beyond our capacity to understand, and something we will never control, this side of heaven.

So now is the time, when the dark skies show the most jewel-like stars glowing back at us, and the solar disk sheds all shadows, when dreamy, boundless Neptune reaches out and touches our subconscious, to assimilate into our own future and live the change we want to see. Reach out to heaven and get caught up in the revolution!

Some of the most sensitive will reach for watercolors, fabrics, feathers, flower petals, old beads on nylon, sculptors clay, scrapbook finds, as opposed to words in order to solidify and earth the emotions, impulses, dreams which arise now. The flow is innovative, fresh, and unstoppable!! The universe itself is in Mardi Gras mode, time to go with that wild blue flow!!

Capricorn!

 The sun in Capricorn!! How that sends chills down the spine of the sensitive! The consensus that Capricorn is granite hearted, dull eyed, unresponsive, inclined to evil, profit, and making orphans, is so polarized, and so wrong.

The sun entered the sidereal star fields of Capricorn, the sign at the top of the zodiac, also called the House of Glory, at 817AM Pacific time on the morning of Sunday 15 January. The first event which occurred as a holiday, honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a man of great charisma and charm, a real American hero martyred for advancing equality and respect for human dignity. Dr. King was a born Capricorn, evincing compassion and toughness in his soul. He worked tirelessly, fearlessly, both Capricorn traits, and he changed the society he lived in and the world of which he was the product for the better.

What’s not to like?

The moon will come new in Capricorn at 1139PM Pacific time on Sunday the 22nd on the Pacific coast; this is 239AM eastern time on the morning of the 23rd, Monday. Any time after this, but before 454PM Pacific, 754PM eastern, we are wise to sit down with lined paper and black ink pen, and list down those things we want to accomplish this year. As we are under the influence of a strongly proactive sign, with great drive, perseverance, and strength of will, we will focus specifically on the positive things we want to achieve; we may want to be more attentive to our family, while being more present on the job; more devoted to our spiritual path while being inclusive of our neighbors; more productive in our worldly search for better, smarter, maximum solutions. Now is our moment to lauch a thousand new improvements!

This new moon in Capricorn signals the Chinese new year of the Dragon; the sign of the sea goat is in many ways like a Chinese dragon, intimidating until you know how to handle it!!

2012!

Since it’s already 2012 in Australia, that must mean the world didn’t end!! What great news!

If you are thinking that it was not predicted by the Mayan calendar to end till December of 2012, ask yourself this: which will really end, the whole world, or the Mayan world?? Didn’t the Mayan world already end? Then the prophecy was true and it has been fulfilled. We don’t have to concern ourselves with Armeggedon anymore. Won’t the Witnesses of Jehovah be pleasantly surprised?

Of immediate, real concern to us is the state of the heavens at midnight, 0000, quad Zulu, of 1 1 2012; I reckon from my house, aka Seattle, since I live here in the far west. The sun is too close to Pluto for there not to occur changes in perception, in our sense of self, in consciousness; however these changes will have already occurred, as the effect is a separating one. We will begin finding applications for the changes which have already been made within us.

There is an inexact Grand Trine in the air element, made up by Saturn in Libra, Neptune in Aquarius, and the MC in Gemini. Ideas come to us easily that have to do with new approaches to the law, innovations, novel applications, honest interpretations.

This may have an impact on another real concern of 2012, which is the Supreme Court hearing the Obamacare case; it begins and ends while Mercury is retrograde in sidereal Aquarius, the sign of new ideas. This looks unfavorable for the proposed changes to be upheld, and indeed may herald a long and harsh legal battle.

A harsh battle rages now in the skies above between Jupiter, benevolent and magnanimous of spirit, opposed by Saturn, the heavenly doorstop. Saturn is exalted in the sign of Libra, which it currently occupies, so the scales are weighted in its favor. We can expect the themes of frugality, economy, and rectitude to endure this year, as well as less frilly fashions.

The one aspect which worries me is that Mars and Mercury are in a tight hard exact square; Mars in loud, ill-mannered, boorish Leo, and Mercury in mocking, ill-humored, dirty mouthed Scorpio. Of course we could choose to elevate this hard square to an iron sculpting on white marble with impassioned but disciplined arguments; but, most of us will bounce around at the level of telling bad jokes and arguing just to argue.

There is one more aspect, a mini trine, involving Saturn in Libra trining Chiron in Aquarius, both sextiling the Part of Fortune at 0 degrees of Sagittarius; I like this one a lot!! Many traditional astrologists won’t use Chiron at all, as it’s a minor asteroid, and the Part of Fortune is purely arbitrary, based on the chart being cast from my house- but here is a perfect example of arguing a good thing down for petty reasons! The mini trine is dignified by Saturn exalted in Libra giving weight and support to Chiron, the wounded healer, in the realm of ideas, innovation, and flights of fantasy. It could launch a whole new path to Fortune!!!

Christmas Magick!

      Christmas Eve!! What magick is astir now beneath the trees, by hearthsides, in dreams! At 1006AM Pacific time, 106PM eastern time, on Saturday 24 December, Christmas Eve, the moon comes new in the true blue sign of Sagittarius.

     If we are waiting, looking up at the deep sapphire skies, thinking of the vast expanses that reach heavenward forever, we will see a vision… the Centaur is a visionary, clear-sighted and cool, and a wise planner, leaper of obstacles, piercer of aims!!

     What exactly is our aim for the reborn year? That the rebirth of the sun on the 21st took place in sidereal Sagittarius tells us that we can achieve what we aim for, if our hand is steady, our arm is strong, and our attention is focused.

     Some of us will consider going back to school this year in order to maintain our standing in the world, while others know that the school of experience sometimes counts the most. Many if not most of us will be most interested in the Law of the land and how the coming decisions will be affecting us on a daily basis. Our military will be happy as gamboling colts to be traveling home!

     The wise among us will pray for peace, understanding, tolerance, charity, unity, and harmony on earth, all Sagittarian traits willingly shared by heaven!  The very wisest will be about the earth, dispensing the gifts of heaven which we all harbor within ourselves;  peace, understanding, tolerance, charity, unity, and harmony, by coincidence!

     More fortuitously, our aims do not need to be confined to Sagittarian quarters. Jupiter, mighty benevolent ruler of Sag, is currently in sidereal Aries, and about to go direct. Aries invites us to jump in and do it, reach for the sky, rocket up for our dreams, whatever they are and where ever they take us!!  What miracles of love could we not launch now??

December 21st 2011

     The sun has actually been at a bit of a stand still over the past couple of days. Standing balanced in the first few degrees of happy- natured Sagittarius, the day-star will seem to teeter in the other direction in its journey tomorrow.  Tomorrow will be the shortest day of the year.

     If you pay observe the habit of praying continually, greeting the sun in the morning  with Psalm 3 and marking it’s setting at the end of the day with Psalm 103, you will note that it continues to rise later and set about the same time till mid January. Make what you will of that, if you are wise.

     The moon wanes in the sign of mysterious, murky Scorpio as the sun finds its’ renewal, which is demonstrative of resurrection from the depths! Fitting!

     It is on Christmas Eve that we find our true treasure this year!! The fitful moon will also renews itself then in bright blue Sagittarius, gifting us with real reason to cheer.  Our spirits will rise with buoyant optimism and faith in a better day, a brighter year, a reason to keep on keepin’ on!

     Best of all, on Christmas day, Jupiter turns direct, in Aries.  Talk about a Santa Claus rally!!  When mighty Jove turns his happy face to us, all of heaven will be direct. Not one single orb will be backward, dark, ill-natured, bad fortuned, or unkindly aspected. Our fate is entirely in our own hands to be made as we will, without interference from Outside.

     What a Christmas gift!

The Legacy of Scorpio

Here we are, Friday night, upcoming holiday, all is not well and all hell is breaking loose. We can tell by the increasingly irate tone of the tweets and the weird FB postings from nowhere featuring porn and skinned animals. It’s Scorpio all right!!

The legacy of Scorpio is that it is time of the Fall; not autumn, I mean the Big one, the one where we listened to the advise of a serpent (Serpens sits on the first decan of Scorpio, right on the ecliptic) and got whacked right out of the Garden by its poisoned tail. If we are of a more scientific bent, we can put our fingers on the craters of the moon, the half-frozen and half-scorched moon Iapetus, or on Chixsalub, and know for a fact that Something Awful happened here. The lunar holiday of Halloween, which celebrates the dead, or Death, occurred under Scorpio. When the Pleiades cross the sky meridian under Scorpio we know that we are safe from destruction, for another fifty-two years; tradition tells us that the Seven Sisters withheld their light as Atlantis sank, that Halloween night, 10, 000 BC. In the sacred Tarot Scorpio is Death, the all-conquering skeleton on a white horse with his scythe. All that is dark, damned, doomed, decaying or damaged belongs to Scorpio.

So no wonder it’s hitting the fan double time!!

I like to point out that without death there is no new life in the spring, no rebirth, no chance of resurrection. But, I am an overly optimistic Pollyanna.

This year, of which we will long recall recession, and resurgent marxism, and swarming streets stinky of pot and human pee, Scorpio is serving up a triple threat to our sense of well-being. Many of us have already felt this, hence, the irate tweets and FB trashings. Thank God for the edit and delete buttons though; you may want to hit them repeatedly as Mercury, the orb of communications, goes retrograde in Scorpio this Wednesday, Thursday morning on the east coast.

Mercury retrograde in Scorpio is a dangerous trend; not only do we say things which we will profoundly regret, but things we have already said in the past do come back now to haunt us. Sometimes it’s a well-intentioned lie; sometimes a promise never intended to be kept. Sweet nothings uttered in the deep quiet dark erupt into cold hard daylight.  Secrets, skeletons, and dirty laundry sweep themselves out of closets, and every murder will out, even if it happened in 1963. As Scorpio is a financial sign, and Mercury is fleet, our money disappears down a drain!

Simultaneous with the retrograde, our delight of the zodiac, Venus, shoots away from Scorpio and her erstwhile companion into straight arrow Sagittarius. She wants to get as far away from this foul-mouthed screamer of secrets as she can!! With the Golden Girl in the sign of foreign affairs, schooling, and the Law, romance and friendship seems to flounder. Relations which had been going pretty well suddenly explode; betrayals rip apart old alliances. Worst, our pockets are always in hock in the generous sign.

The next day is Thanksgiving, our own Jovian holiday. Saturn will balance itself into Libra the Scales just as the sun rises in Scorpio. It almost seems that this could be a test on our capacity for gratitude!! I expect some interesting turns of events in connection with the Karmic Judge presiding in Libra, dispensing Divine Justice. That this begins under a Mercury retrograde in Scorpio lets us know that the least word, the lightest deed, even the best hidden, are open for weighing.

As always, there is a bright side to this. The retrograde, the fleeing of Venus, and Saturn sitting down to our Thanksgiving feast coincides with the new moon, of course in Scorpio. At 1010PM Pacific, or 210AM eastern Friday morning, we can light a scarlet and black candle, wearing chain mail, or a decorative pin in a pinch, and etch in black ink those traits of Scorpio we wish to develop in our soul garden.

Why the hell would we want to plant such seeds in our soul??

Scorpio is strong, physically and tough mentally; Scorpio is intense, determined, persistent, independent, and innately strategic. Scorpio manuevers for the best possible shot and thinks ahead. Scorpio is motivated internally, and Scorpio achieves his end, no matter the pain, no matter the sacrifice, no matter how long or hard the challenge. Scorpio wins. Scorpio is a leader of power-hungry people and manager of powerful forces, most of them subterranean, or subconscious. Scorpio is intuitive enough to navigate the dark waters and avoid the predators, whose hungry nature Scorpio knows. Laying fallow, unused, unlovely, unkempt, Scorpio develops perceptive abilities and sensitivities that some would describe as terrifying. Scorpio survives, and rises again, and again.

A grand lesson, that! Scorpio teaches us to survive all the chaos and meanness and hardness of heart which we ourselves have generated. There is no better time to seek forgiveness, make atonement, research the past, read history, investigate past life regression, explore Otherwhere, experience survivalist training, reconnect with old friends and former residences, delve into the mystic arts, or root out the hidden causes of what ails us, personally or as a Race.

Hidden underneath it all, even Scorpio is a priceless jewel in Gods’ sight, worthy of redemption, valued as a keeper.

Baptism of Fire!

Did you notice how things just went to hell last week?? Either we were all broke, or had been broken into, or broke up with BFFs and long-term relationships, or worse to worst- the list was not just endless but becoming really frightening. Events we did not really believe could occur happened before our eyes.

The reasons for this occur first in heaven of course; in this case, Mars, the bad boy, the soldier of fortune with an attitude, left a comparably safe and sane resting place in Cancer and roared into loud Leo, to set the heavens on fire. His chief pastime in Cancer was Occupy Wall Street, pretty much a hemorrhoid on the working mans butt till his tail caught fire.

All along we have been hearing about confusion, mixed messages, a cluster of causes without leadership, continuing deterioration of conditions; now, the baptism has become one of fire, with rampant drug abuse, increasing senseless violence, blocking even small businesses, rape and violent assaults going unreported because it would make the movement look bad, and finally, murder.

For this further delve into a spiritual morass we have to look across the zodiac to Neptune, spinning backasswards in Aquarius, the sign of Brotherhood, the future, freedom, and the group ethic. Neptune itself is such a diffuse planet; a prominent modern astrologer, Liz Greene, believes it should be called instead Dionysius, because of its alcoholic haze and trail of dead rock stars in its wake. It lends inarticulate guttural mumblings as often as bestowing the gift of the Muse. In Aquarius, you’d think the orb of Inspiration would incite us common men toward unity, equality, liberty, fraternity, not curbside living for the masses.

(Sigh.) That’s because Mars opposes Neptune, a nasty fix. Mars is intense, close to our ego and status in the community; Neptune is our ideal, that place to which we aspire but never achieve on the earthplane. Every time Mars strikes out, in what he perceives is the right direction, he gives himself a black eye, while Neptune gets more scattered and confused and vague.

What really worries me is that beginning Monday the 7th, we have a Grand Trine in the fire signs in the heavens. Normally, this is a great good thing, a time of burning of garbage in our minds and fiery determination and the will to win! Mars sits at the top of the Trine in Leo, lordly and victorious; super sizing Jupiter in Aries lends a certain militancy, and dark Pluto in Sagittarius aims from the rear. The focus, pointedly opposed to Neptune the ideal, suggests a further downward spiral in society and short flares of temper individually. It could potentially get really nasty if we don’t access the brighter side of the planets.

The wise and prudent Christian will harness the implicit mysticism of Neptune to the ambitions of Mars, and make a rainbow bridge across this lake of fire which can be as inclusive as Jupiter, lead to Pluto’s buried treasure (material or psychological), and give us all a better ending to the story than the Three Little Pigs.

The opposition breaks up on Thursday, just as the moon comes full in explosive Aries. What a conflagration!