It’s much less arbitrary than a lot of other practices. The astronomy involved is science, astrology is its poetry.
You can see cycles and patterns unfolding in your life. Nature’s clockwork.
One of the phrases you hear a lot in astrology is ‘as above, so below.’ This implies that what goes on in the heavens is reflected here on earth, that the unfolding of the relationships of the stars and planets impacts mundane life. Like I say in the video, we know the moon affects the tide, how do we know the stars don’t influence our lives? And on the other hand, what if by associating meaning to the stars, we can gain insight to the patterns and passage of time we experience? As below, so above?
When you look at the systems and layers it makes a complicated, contradictory mess of sense. Just like us.
Mercury slowing down over the last couple of days has really put me out of it. I’ve just been bumming around the house, and I’m not complaining, but I was getting a lot of stuff done before!
Made a video yesterday about this Mercury rx, and since I was trying to be of the cuff while he was slowing down, I skipped Caps in there and had to go back. This is exactly the kind of stuff that will happen during a retrograde, especially Mercury, because our communication, our expression, our way of thinking and processing changes direction. Usually we live in the waking world, thinking from the inside out. We are here, living our lives in the world we share with everyone else, rational and logical and whatnot. But when those energies change direction, the energy goes outside in. We internalize it a lot more. With it being in the sign of Libra, we are internalizing what our relationships are bringing out in the area of our lives the rx falls. I talk about it (a lot) in this video:
(Sorry Caps and Sag folk.)
So while this energy is internal, we might feel very different than we do the rest of the time. This is why they say don’t sign new contracts, don’t travel, don’t leave the house, all that stuff. We are not thinking like we normally do! If you were born during a retrograde and enjoy these times when everyone else is falling apart, even you are now only thinking in a way that happens for a couple of weeks out of the year. Live it up!
I think in general this will be a very verbose Mercury rx, from September 17-October 9. We will be constantly weighing the scales inside ourselves, and will probably need everyone in our lives to talk us through it. We might have some choice words of our own, and have half a mind to let anyone in our way to have all of them! But I think it will be less directly confrontational, that any particularly egregious shit-talking will be left for after the rx, when we are in the shadow zone (the area where Mercury backed up) from about October 9-23. We’ll be more concerned with our feelings and how the people in our lives are making us feel, and was it my fault and what were they thinking and why why why is everyone all up in my business?
Just knowing how real the struggle is – for everyone – might make this a little more manageable.
I’ve made a video talking about ideas that might be tested and challenged as Saturn (Father Time, life lessons, karmic debt, trials and restrictions, boundaries, reality) goes through Sagittarius (higher learning and consciousness, foreign countries, travel, the world outside your comfort zone/neighborhood/area of influence). The first thing you should know is that I’m obviously an ingenious political pundit, and the second is that I always know what’s going to happen because astrology. Or actually, I’m just looking at the symbols and their meanings and relating them to current events. My purpose here, much like the theme of the video, is not to pick a side but rather to talk about the ideas themselves. Check out the video here:
So I put this up a couple of days ago. I noticed that I fall into the trap of putting things into a negative connotation, which is easy to do because Saturn generally sucks. Wherever Saturn is in the chart, those areas are rife with conflict. So in talking about the ideas and belief systems that will be challenged by this transit, it seems like it could be an epidemic or a medical breakthrough, like I said. Where we learn Saturn’s lessons, we get great rewards. So likewise, if it seems like war (or rumors of war, ha), conversely we could also see a great shift forward in diplomacy. If we are questioning our sovereignty and leadership, maybe we become united under that banner. Everything exists on a spectrum, so how the Lord of Time challenges our higher thinking will be something to see.
Also falling into the trap of dichotomies, I mention ‘dark’ things happening within religious organizations. What I mean here is not ‘evil,’ what I mean here is ‘secret.’ The secrets that have been unearthed during Saturn in Scorpio are now coming out into the light. Again, light does not mean good. Dark does not mean evil. Sagittarius encourages us to find a new way of thinking. Look for a broader view, a higher vista, a path that can include multiple world views.
My assertion remains that we will have new perspectives on old ways of thinking. If we work through Saturn’s challenges, we will transcend the old narrative of us v. them, good v. evil, etc. This will be alarming for a lot of folks, because those kinds of ideas run rampant in our world. People that consciously try to think outside of that paradigm are weirdos, right? At the very least, incredibly pretentious. Well this is the kind of thinking we are now being asked to employ. The answers will not be as simple as they once were. We may find the good guys doing things for the very worst of reasons, and we might see that the bad guys have a compelling argument that we’ve never heard before. We need to be able to have minds that are open enough to be able to move some ideas around. If we hold on too tightly to our old worldviews, this time is likely to be very frustrating for us.
I think control of information will be a big thing. Who has access to what and when. We’re already seeing a consolidation of things like internet providers. Net neutrality was a thing we haven’t heard about in a minute, we might be looking at it during Saturn in Sag.
Now I just wanted to see if I could fit the word dichotomy in one more time. Oh, look, I did.
These next couple years Saturn will be tough-loving us through getting our beliefs and ideas about the world hella challenged.
Big things happening this weekend with the New Moon in Virgo, as well as a partial Solar Eclipse. This takes place at 12.41am on Sunday, Mountain Standard Time. I made a video describing these energies, and how they flow from last month here:
Other details pertinent to this transit include the opposition to Chiron at 19° Pisces, which will activate an opportunity for healing. Chiron is an asteroid/planetoid between Jupiter and Saturn, symbolizing the bridge between past and present, between the waking world and the underworld. He’s the wounded healer, representing where we have been hurt or where we are incomplete, and conversely, where we can heal others and in doing so, become whole. In Pisces, this has to do with our subconscious. The deepest parts of our minds, our connection to the other side, the spiritual energies of the universe, the place where we wash away and become one with creation, is highlighted during this New Moon and partial Solar Eclipse. We have the opportunity to heal these hurts in our souls, or we run the risk of becoming paralyzed by them and allowing them to take over. Oppositions are a fine-tuned balance or a tug of war. Will you hold on to past hurts, or will you become empowered by them? With Saturn at the last degree of Scorpio (shared values, regeneration, cycles), I would encourage all of us to let go and release these hurts. This will create the balance we need to integrate Chiron’s healing energy into this new phase of our lives. Because this Solar Eclipse is opening a portal to new world of our own devising, don’t limit your power during this time. What you feel can be made manifest.
While we have this healing going on, we will need to be aware of Uranus over there at 19° Aries. This creates what’s called a quincunx, an aspect of 150 degrees to the New Moon. This is at best…unpredictable. With Uranus’ M.O. of breaking out and rebelling against the status quo, electrically charging whatever he touches, this New Moon and partial Solar Eclipse can have explosive results. This could mean you are encountering new ideas or situations that you have no basis of experience with, it could challenge your ideas about who you are. It’s possible that in delving into the psyche of Chiron/Pisces, you find things that don’t fit with how you now see the world or even yourself. That’s OK! The only constant is change. And this can quite possibly be a violent change. Aries is warlike, almost childishly, innocently selfish and with Uranus there supercharging our self-interest, we could be seeing major, jolting changes in the areas of our lives where these things land in our chart. Chiron/Pisces blends into the next sign of Uranus/Aries, so while these changes might seem incongruent or unexpected, the New Moon/Eclipse/Virgo energies will help actualize and physicalize and realize – in the waking world – the birth of the new energies within you.
Venus Stations Direct! Mercury opposite Uranus, creating another T-square for a while.
Astro Post: Venus has now stationed direct, she’s no longer retrograde. Great! What does that mean? It means that she is reborn! We’ve been able to see her in the morning sky already, but now all of that deep, inward soul-searching that we’ve had going on over the last few weeks, especially when it comes to love and values and relating, will start to become expressed in the real world. If you read my last post on Venus, I’ve been personally taking another look at my work and what really makes me happy, what is really getting my creative juices flowing. Well, now we enter what’s called the shadow zone. This is the area from where she’s at now, at 14° Leo thru where she started backing up at 0° Virgo. Anything in this part of your chart (for me, Mars and the Sun) will be visited by Venus AGAIN, for the third time this summer. Any planets you have along this path will once again be blessed with grace and charm and a feeling of beauty, this time with a hint of youthful inpetuousness, since she is the reborn warrior maiden. This allows us to explore this new energy we’ve gone through the underworld to find. We’re going back over what we backed up over! Where the retrograde energy is intense and internalized, now we can manifest it into the waking world. What changes have we made in regards to our values (Venus), in the deepest corners of our hearts (in the sign of Leo)?
Venus and Mars will also be making another conjunction, once again coming together (ha), the feminine and masculine energies within us joining in the waking world. Their unions, again, taking place in the sign of noble feelings, the sign of the heart. If we’ve been out of touch with our creative energies, how can we use this time to better integrate the male and female within us? And yes, guys, we do have have that feminine side to us. And yes, ladies, there is that masculine part of you as well. We’re in the sign of Virgo at the moment, considered the sign of the soul meeting the body, now we can use our HEARTS to blend these new energetic impulses within ourselves.
These energies are still trine Uranus in Aries, so embracing your own individualistic power is key. Even breaking out of set ideas you have for yourself, allowing yourself to break out of WHO YOU THINK YOU ARE is a part of this Venus rebirth. Rebel against any outside influence trying to let you know how or who to be, the energies at this time won’t allow for it. The Awakener Uranus still casts his electricity into our sense of SELF.
Mercury in the sign of Libra is directly opposite Uranus at the moment. So where we are having this awakening within ourselves, our minds and communication are in the sign of other people. We are having to balance the scales every time we speak, weighing everything out to make sure it’s fair and balanced and just. This could cause some friction, if other people are not as permissive of your awakenings as they are of their own. We might be different than we’ve ever been, and other folks might not know how to handle it. Luckily Mars and Venus are both sextile Mercury, which means we’ll have an easier time if we stop trying to be so logical and SPEAK FROM THE HEART. If we try to get too in our heads or try to aggressively assert this new individuality we feel, we might muddy up the message, but when we come from the heart center right now, others are likely to feel it in their hearts.
The opposition of Mercury and Uranus also creates another T-Square with Pluto, the sign of collective consciousness, mass movements, power struggles and deep transformation. These aspects are calling to attention the need for change! We may have been feeling unduly suppressed by people in our lives, and the energy now is asking us to look at that, to balance our new selves with how we communicate with the world and to TRANSFORM accordingly.
The nice thing about Pluto here, because he can be quite daunting, is he’s offering relief to the long standing T-Square of Jupiter/Virgo (physical reality, expanding the details) opposite Neptune/Pisces (dissolving the boundaries in the spiritual realm), both square Saturn/Scorpio (karmic tests of deep bonding, grounding of shared values, restriction in the underworld).
He’s trine the Sun and Jupiter, giving an easy exchange to the work that we need to do in the physical world. At the moment we feel like we can transform the world around us to our will, especially when it comes to work and how we are carrying ourselves in the public sphere. Take advantage of this, it seems easy until we move on into Libra.
He’s also sextile Neptune, which means we’ve already been reaping the benefits of our spiritual transformation. The deep soul-searching of Saturn in Scorpio has already put in motion the changes we need to make the most of this.
The next couple of days, the moon will be moving through her domicile in the sign of Cancer. While she was in Taurus, I said what makes you feel grounded, what do you value? While she was in Gemini, I said how are we relating, how are we expressing our feelings?
As she moves through her home base, I encourage us all to trust our gut reactions. Trust the feelings that come bubbling up from under the surface, even if they don’t make practical Virgo sense. She’s going to be making trines with the other water signs, which means we’ll have deeper access to our intuition (Moon in Cancer), spirituality (Neptune in Pisces) and healing (Chiron), as well as a gut-level knowing of how to handle the last stages, the master degree of Saturn 29° Scorpio. Any feelings, any intutions you have over the next couple of days will not lead you astray.
Even if other folk tell you otherwise.
Astro Post: Today the quarter moon is urging us to wrap up what started at the new moon on August 14 in Leo! We got about another week before the new moon in Virgo, so start thinking about new intentions to manifest.
Today we have a nice minor grand trine between Venus and Mars in Leo trine Uranus in Aries,both sextile the moon in Gemini. Let your feelings guide you, because the stirrings in your heart are in alignment with the new discoveries you’re making about yourself. Use your words to bridge the gap, and let everyone know about the new you.
T-square in effect still, but some major shifts coming up. Venus is almost done backing up, Saturn is almost out of Scorpio, and we’ve got some eclipses coming up. But that’s not today. Enjoy the people around you, enjoy the day!
Astro Post: Woke up real early this morning! It’s about 5.30am at the time of writing this, woke up really energized. Lately my dreams have been really vivid, maybe because of the waning energy of the Pisces full moon. I’m just glad I’m not waking up feeling like I got hit by a train anymore.
Anyway! Today the moon moves into Gemini, and the T-square that will be hanging around for awhile is briefly a Grand Cross, or a Grand Square, which you can see in the chart of the moment. That dreamy Neptune/Pisces and the practical Sun/Virgo are BOTH going to feel the strain as the Moon (emotions, intuition, inner world) goes into the sign of communication and localized experience. We might be seeing more of our neighborhood or workplace today, moving around a lot and talking to a myriad of people.
As I’m writing this, though, the moon is EXACTLY opposite Saturn/Scorpio. An opposition is either a perfect balance or a tug of war. Are our feelings at odds with our trials in life, or are we able to bridge the connection? Are we able to merge our minds with our intimate relationships at the moment?
As the Moon moves through Gemini today (and tomorrow, mostly today because it’s those early degrees of Gemini), notice if there are tensions that erupt into words. How are we using our words? Are we using them like tools, building our relationships or is it time to use them like weapons to tear some ish down? The Moon’s transit through here will create drama in your everyday environments because of the Grand Cross. This is an opportunity to TAKE ACTION. The ‘negative’ or ‘analytical’ aspects of squares and oppositions (red lines) light a fire under us to actually do something.
So take notice if it seems like people are actively trying to piss you off today. Most likely they aren’t, they’re just dealing with how to use their words, too.
Peace!
Will
Today’s grand cross – how are we using the tension in our lives to manifest our will?
Astro Post: Today’s movement of the moon through Taurus puts our mind on our money and our money on our mind! I know I’ve taken deliberate steps to make sure my bank roll is on point. We’re still dealing with the T-square I described the other day, the key still being digging deep into our personal relationships to unearth clues that may be buried. But! With the Sun in Virgo, Pluto in Capricorn and Moon in Taurus, we have a brilliant chance to take practical, earthy and physical action toward changing the world around us with our intentions.
Even if it’s not cash dollars you’re worried about, today’s energy will help you get grounded in those things you value. Maybe you’ll make an improvement in your home, or spend some time actually digging in the dirt like my boyfriend did. Maybe you’ll get centered in your body through yoga or some other healthy practice. Maybe you’ll take it easy and enjoy some amazing meals (like I just did:).
The point is to enjoy the things that YOU value, focusing on YOUR worth. That will help us as we move through this T-square.
Cheers!
Will
Today’s chart. T-square still in effect, aided by the grand earth trine with the Moon moving through Taurus
PERSONAL POST: My own journey through Venus retrograde the last couple of weeks has been rocky, to say the least. She’s been in my home base of Leo all summer, where I’ve got a stellium (3 or more planets in a sign, or a house, but in this case, the sign of Leo), including Mercury conjunct Mars (thoughts, intellect and communication fused with aggression, drives and sexual passion) and Sun (ego, consciousness, core energy).
Still with me?
When she started her retrograde and descent to the underworld, or through the southern hemisphere where we can’t see her, she shifted from the mellow, lovey western evening star to the warrior maiden eastern morning star (pictured here, though her beauty and light is not done justice). She was in my own intercepted (blocked, passed over) Virgo in the 6th. Retrogrades of any planet ask for a second look, a revaluation of those energies in the areas of life or houses where the retrograde falls. So my sense of Venus, my own worth and value and attraction, what I bring into me, was in my work and daily habits house. I began to experience a deep disquiet about how I was spending my time in my work, how non-valued I felt.
So I changed it. As she backed up into my 5th house of heart, creativity and passions, I decided to abandon the elements of my work that weren’t making me feel valued, weren’t adding to my happiness. I decided to follow my own heart.
The pressure Venus put on me is a large part of why I developed this website, and have decided to offer my services as an astrologer. Now she’s sitting right next to Mars in the sky (a powerfully sexy, sensual time, not without its own tensions), and right over my natal (birth) Mercury/Mars combo. So this is the perfect time for me to tell everyone about it! In fact, I feel almost driven to do so. See this long ass post? Ha!
How has Venus affected you? Please please share below!
If you aren’t sure where she falls in your chart, there are a number of places to find out – I like astro.com. But I could also read your chart and we could discuss where this happens in your life!
Hmu:)
Venus in the morning sky as Lucifer, the lightbringer
Willpower Astrology 
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