Venus and Mars Retrograde: Cardinal Relationship Shifts and a Fight for Right Human Relations in 2014

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Over the next six months, both primary relationship planets - Venus and Mars - will retrograde (appear to move backward in the zodiac) in cardinal signs. Cardinal signs indicate initiation, new direction, leadership, and decision-making. Retrogrades indicate a period of re-visiting and review during which we are completing one cycle while initiating a new one.

The retrogrades of the relationship planets through cardinal signs indicate that the close of 2013 and the first half of 2014 is a dynamic period of change, movement, decisions, commitments, and initiations in relationships of all kinds.

What's clear is this: we're not standing still in relationship in 2014. We're not hunkering down in the way things have always been. We're plotting and planning and strategizing for long-term mutual success through some very trying and unstable years on the planet. And the universe is moving Heaven and Earth for us (via cardinal Grand Cross) as we make our moves.

Dwarf planet Ceres and asteroid Vesta will also retrograde through Libra, in conjunction aspect, during the first half of 2014, making almost simultaneous retrograde and direct stations. The retrogrades of these feminine bodies through Libra place further emphasis on the importance of maintaining the social fabric on this planet through tumultuous and trying times.

Asteroid Pallas Athene will transit Libra during the second half of 2014, stirring social justice issues.

And the transiting North Node of the Moon will enter Libra February 18, 2014 until November 11, 2015, indicating that our successful, soul-driven path forward involves keeping our balance while mastering social relations.

Suffice it to say, relationships are pretty epic in 2014.

There are some pivotal and potentially life-altering moments coming down the pipe. There are some fairly major structural shifts coming. There is re-direction coming. Decisions will be made. We're striking a new work-relationship balance. And there is new leadership required as we position ourselves and our cherished relationships for long-term success in this new astrological era.

Venus, the planet associated with love, relationships, money, values, beauty, and femininity, will retrograde in the sign of the businessperson, Capricorn, from December 21, 2013 to January 31, 2014.

Mars, the planet associated with desire, sex drive, will, goals, personal direction, aggression, war, anger, and masculinity will retrograde in the sign of relationship, balance, and justice, Libra, from March 1, 2014 to May 19, 2014.

Both relationship planets will rub up against the Uranus-Pluto square during these transits. This indicates that the changes, decisions, and movements coming about in our interpersonal relationships are intricately connected to the broader, sociological changes and pressures currently underway.

The lay of the relational land is changing in unexpected and often refreshing ways, and this is tied to unfolding global events.

All this shifting and changing and re-positioning culminates in an exact cardinal Grand Cross April 21 - 24, 2014, when transiting Mars Rx in Libra backs into an opposition to Uranus in Aries, a square to Jupiter in Cancer, and a square to Pluto in Capricorn, all at 13 degrees of the cardinal signs.

All four metaphorical seasons are changing at once in the spring of 2014. This is invigorating, exciting, thrilling - but also potentially stressful, frightening, and pressure-filled. We are being challenged, and our relationships are being challenged.

At the time of the exact cardinal Grand Cross next April, there can be no doubt that we have entered a whole new set-up, a whole new landscape, and this includes the ways in which we love and relate as human beings.

- Venus retrograde: December 21, 2013 to January 31, 2014 from 28 degrees to 13 degrees Capricorn

During a Venus retrograde, we are discharging one eight-year cycle involving relationships, money, and values, and we are entering a new eight-year cycle involving the same things.

As Venus appears to go backward through the zodiac, meeting with the Sun in interior conjunction January 11, we can expect a revisiting of previous relationships and relationship dynamics. Again, we are resolving one eight-year relationship cycle and preparing for a new one, and this involves a "going over" of relationships past and present.

Venus retrogrades often involve:

- taking stock in relationships of all kinds
- taking stock financially
- making major decisions in relationships
- clearing residual emotions, debts, and karmic ties from previous relationships with an eye on moving forward
- making amends
- determining whether what we valued in the past (particularly in relationship) is what we value now
- setting new directions and goals in relationships
- setting new directions and goals financially
- re-committing ourselves to relationships that will sustain us moving forward
- breaking up relationships that have come to a point of completion and will not sustain us moving forward
- old flames or old friends coming back into our lives either to fully resolve things or to rekindle old connections 

Capricorn is a cardinal, earth sign concerned with advancement, progress, and concrete achievement. It is a sign related to prestige, power, climbing the ladder, control, business, being the boss, and working just that little bit harder to outpace the competition.

This Venus transit of and retrograde through Capricorn is a bit of a dry stretch for the love and relationship planet, however. It can even be official "dry spell" territory. The standard scene of working late at the office only to come home to an empty house.

If we want a solid, long-term relationship that will be mutually successful (and yes, with Mars about to spend eight months in Libra, that's exactly what we want), we have to work to put that framework in place. And with Venus in Saturn-ruled Capricorn, unfortunately, this means enduring any loneliness we have to endure in order to get the job done.

This Venus retrograde is about strategically positioning ourselves and our relationships for long-term success. It's decision-making time about how to proceed in relationships from here.

This Venus retrograde through Capricorn raises the bar in relationships of all kinds. Some relationships will gladly meet the challenge. Others will fall apart.

Capricorn isn't the most romantic, gushy, or lovey-dovey placement for Venus. But it sure gets the job done on the love front, creating firm commitments and setting a structural framework that will sustain us and our relationships over the long-term.

Venus retrogrades right back into a conjunction to Pluto in Capricorn and an opposition to Jupiter in Cancer, where it will station direct at 13 degrees Capricorn on January 31, 2014. This direct station at the end of January and beginning of February is very potent for structural change and for personal and professional advancement done the right way - morally, fairly, transparently, without stepping on anyone else to get there. That's what Venus likes.

The fact that this Venus retrograde draws in the energy of the Uranus-Pluto square indicates that everyone has some work to do as far as the way their relationships are running. It could be a little shifting around the edges, or it could be a major structural overhaul. It may involve major decisions and committing to new shared directions, or it may involve the end of long-standing relationships that have simply run their course.

- Mars retrograde: March 1 to May 19, 2014 from 27 to 9 degrees Libra

The influence of Mars can be inflammatory and irritating, so during the eight-month transit of Mars through Libra, our relationships, our social scenes, and our interactions all have the possibility of flaring. There will be social grease fires - you'd better believe it. So we all need to keep a big box of baking soda handy.

Most people are going to want (Mars) a relationship (Libra) over the next eight months. This desire will be acute and even overpowering, at times.

But let's be stark-reality honest here. There are a whole lot of people on this planet that don't know which way is up right now. They don't know which way is up in their own lives, let alone when they bring another person in.

Libra, especially young/immature Libra, is known for its indecisiveness.

Mars as a planet, on the other hand, generally knows exactly what it wants and will go right for it.

Or does it?

In Libra, the sign of its detriment, Mars' confidence in what it wants is not so strong. What it wants one day may seem completely foreign and baffling once the scales tip and it is pointed in an entirely new direction.

With Mars transiting Libra for eight months, we aren’t simply driving ahead according to our own instincts and desires. We’re taking our cues from others. We’re gauging social cues before making our moves. This makes the function of Mars more complicated.

Under the cardinal Grand Crosses, we are struggling with a huge amount of change, shifting, and upheaval on a grand, global scale. There is a lot of chaos - much of it orchestrated - and this affects personal relationships.

Under pressure, transiting Mars in Libra can be destructive (Mars) to relationships (Libra). As potentially giving-to-a-fault as this placement can be, Mars in Libra can also decide relationships are just not worth the bother, adopting a selfish, "me first" attitude that erodes relations.

Mars in Libra is a placement that fights socially, via its social scene, and this can be underhanded. The classic "won't fight its own battles" placement. It is a placement associated with passive aggressiveness, so it battles with its social graces, with its popularity level, and with a sort of disingenuous "niceness."

What we all need to understand during transiting Mars in Libra: 

"Nice" is not necessarily kind.
"Nice" is not necessarily real.
"Nice" does not necessarily get the job done.
"Nice" is not necessarily what is being asked of you.  

On the other side of the scale, we have a placement that will valiantly fight for relationships and for social harmony. We have a placement that desires a fair and equitable social scene. Mars in Libra wants everyone to get along, everyone to be happy, and it will put forth great effort to maintain its social standards. Mars in Libra is a placement that will risk its own neck for the happiness of others. Often, it will risk its own neck for social justice.  

On a societal level, human relations have taken a distinct nosedive. Social justice seems but a dream. In many cases, we just aren't treating each other very well. Manners, consideration, social graces, and concern for the well-being of others have all been eroded on a collective level.  

With transiting Mars in Libra for eight months, we’re going to have to fight (Mars) for the social fabric (Libra) that is slowly being eaten away. We're going to have to fight (Mars) for civility, for reciprocity, for kindness, for sociability, for mutual support, for cooperation, for consideration, for social strength and harmony (Libra).  

We're going to have to fight to stay together. 

We're going to have to fight for love.  

And we’re going to have to put effort forth to maintain a healthy and sophisticated adult society. No, this social scene is not run by and for children, as is often the case these days. Libra is focused primarily on relationships and sociability with peers, leaving most of the parent-child relations to Cancer. 

This year, we have to fight to maintain real human relations and interactions, right human relations, as the social fabric continues to break down under the constant pressure and stress of a world gone mad. 

- Ceres, Vesta, and Pallas Athene, Along with the North Node of the Moon, Transit Libra in 2014

During 2014, we will experience dwarf planet Ceres and asteroid Vesta traveling in conjunction in Libra. They will also form conjunctions to the North Node of the Moon, newly in Libra.

Ceres and Vesta will complete almost simultaneous retrogrades through Libra while conjunct.

In Libra, again, it is our relationships, our kindness and concern for others, our social scenes, and our quests for justice that need focused tending. We have a long history of cooperation on this planet, of helping each other and caring about each other through tough times, and of achieving shared goals together. This has helped us survive and succeed as a species, and we cannot let that history break down now under our watch.

It's when we work together for a common goal and a common vision – benefiting all involved - that we make real progress.

Both Vesta and Ceres will be traveling conjunct the North Node of the Moon, newly in Libra as of February 18, 2014.

Asteroid Pallas Athene makes its own transit of Libra - no retrograde period - from August 10 to October 19, 2014. This transit of the female warrior asteroid through the sign of justice and relationship indicates that we strategically continue the Mars in Libra fight for civility, for kindness, for fairness, for justice, for reciprocity, for cooperation, and for our planet’s social fabric into the fall of 2014.

This is a great year to practice kindness toward your fellow living beings, working and struggling though these times on the planet right alongside you. This is a more detached kindness than the Piscean-era variety, yes, with a firm handle on healthy boundaries, but it still involves extending your humanity and your loving heart to another person or people.

We’re heading into epic relationship territory and epic social territory this year, as humanity fights to pull itself back from the brink. We can’t do it alone.

Our Sagittarian Beacons of Light

Your friendly anarchist astro-reporter, Willow, in the cottonwoods

Photo: Willow's Mama

The Sun entered Sagittarius November 21, and we've officially broken the surface of our difficult and disturbing subterranean travels through Scorpio.

This Scorpio season was particularly challenging with the planet that rules challenges, Saturn, in the sign, colouring a seemingly never-ending Mercury retrograde through Scorpio (October 21 - November 10) that kept some of the darkest and most fearful subjects stuck on our minds. We were dealing with all the challenging aspects of the Scorpionic mind: paranoia, depression, dread, darkness, triggering conversations and information, detrimental thinking, intrusive and obsessive thoughts that gave us little rest, worst-fear subjects preying upon us, emotional and psychological difficulty that took us down for a death roll or two.

For those stuck under Saturn's thumb in Scorpio, there were some bleak Mercury retrograde moments, indeed.

To add to the challenge, we experienced Neptune and Chiron stationing direct in tandem (November 13 and November 19), stirring up painful confusion, illusion, over-sensitivity, disappointment, devastation, sadness, free-floating anxiety with no discernible cause, feelings of isolation, psychic overwhelm, exhaustion, disturbed sleep, and a strong desire for escape.

The Chiron in Pisces station was a particularly painful release point - and a time when many souls went on to the afterlife.

November has not been the easiest of months.

But now, layer-by-bleak-and-scary-layer, we re-surface from the subterranean Scorpionic depths.

Mercury completes its final challenge - the last conjunction to Saturn in Scorpio - on November 25 at 7:54 p.m. Central Standard Time. It will take a few days to move out of the reach of this dreaded conjunction to Saturn, but we've officially made it out of the most disturbing mental and emotional depths as we hit Hump Day this week.

In the wee hours of November 27, Mercury leaves its retrograde shadow at 18 Scorpio, clearing old, dreaded subjects from our minds. As we start our days on November 27, our minds are officially in new territory, on the other side of all the retrograde heinousness.

At the very same time as Mercury is moving on, Saturn cracks into its next retrograde shadow (the degrees to which it will return during its next retrograde) at 16 degrees Scorpio.

See that?

We have over half the Saturn transit through Scorpio under our belts now. We're not going back. And we've also completed the entire transit of Saturn through the often-difficult Via Combusta, an area of the zodiac associated with karma, misfortune, and unfortunate events.

Scorpio is a dense, complex, complicated sign. It's the sign most people fear. It's the sign where we hide everything we're scared of, everything we're uncomfortable with, everything left unsaid.

So as Mercury went picking through this sign, back and forth, we were touching on some of the most difficult subjects in existence (including the possibility of the annihilation of much of humanity via the Fukushima nuclear disaster). Not only that, but Saturn held our noses in these subjects until we got a good, old whiff. Until we got a full handle on every dark and disturbing angle, making the unconscious, conscious. We couldn't squirm our way out of any of it - not if we wanted to be fully responsible and on top of our games moving into the second half of Saturn in Scorpio.

Mercury went direct November 10 at 2 degrees Scorpio, exactly trine stationing Neptune in Pisces.

And now, as Mercury in Scorpio conjuncts Saturn for the last time until November 2014, we start to get some perspective on our hard-won mental, emotional, and psychological progress. We start to see the first fruits of our labours, the first bits of gold that come out of our pain.

As the Sun is shining down on us from jovial, humourous, gregarious, and optimistic Sagittarius, have faith that you will come through this. Have faith that relief is up ahead. Because it is.

Our Sagittarian beacons of light are in the window, guiding us home, guiding us to safety:

As stated, Mercury conjuncts Saturn in Scorpio November 25 and then cracks into new territory early on November 27.

Mercury in Scorpio will form a grounding and productive sextile to Venus in Capricorn (which is preparing for its own retrograde) on November 27, as well (8:45 p.m. CST). This Mercury-Venus sextile provides an earthy outlet and release for our hot and over-taxed Third Eyes, coming out of the extended transit of Mercury through intuitive, alchemical Scorpio. It's likely that we will be able to concretely apply the things we've seen and the things we've uncovered to maximum success here. Every last bit of difficult Mercury in Scorpio perspective is useful and usable now and will be through the upcoming Venus retrograde (December 21, 2013 to January 30, 2014), particularly for advancement in partnership, both personal and professional.

Mercury forms another nice, easy, flowing aspect on November 28 - a trine to Jupiter in Cancer (1:23 a.m.). This trine is some healing balm for our shredded psyches, as the raw Scorpionic intelligence finds a caring home and an accepting place. The meaning and reason for our deep, dark, painful examinations during Mercury's retrograde may become more fully known to us here, and we may have renewed faith that we are on the right track.

The Sagittarius Sun trines Uranus in Aries on November 30 (12:25 p.m.), providing another day of flowing energetics. This trine shines a light on our progress into the new astrological era, providing lightning-flash insight and renewed faith on our weird and wild path forward.

The Moon enters Scorpio November 29 (10:03 p.m. CST) in its Balsamic phase, indicating one last emotional/psychological hurdle as we close out the month of November.

This Dark of the Moon phase in Scorpio closes out a difficult lunar cycle that began November 3 with the New Moon Scorpio eclipse conjunct Saturn. That New Moon eclipse took some of us into very difficult emotional and psychological territory, and we've been kept there ever since.

This Dark of the Moon phase (November 29 - December 2) can stir up some difficult emotions related to this lunar cycle and to any associated events that occurred.

But we are folding it all into the alchemical soup, preparing for new emotional territory. Allow yourself to feel it, but don't get stuck. We're moving on.

The Sagittarius New Moon occurs December 2 at 10 degrees (6:22 p.m. CST), releasing us from the last grips of this very difficult Scorpio season.

Mercury in Scorpio will form another grounding and productive sextile to Mars in Virgo on December 3 (10:35 a.m.), indicating a time when we can practically apply our new intelligence to great effect. An awareness of the details right down to the X-Ray examination level assists us greatly here as we close out the Mercury transit of Scorpio.

Mercury leaves Scorpio (finally) for Sagittarius December 4 at 8:42 p.m., and a cheer goes up across the land!

The aspects as we close out November and begin December are highly supportive to our zippy little messenger planet Mercury (Mercury-Venus sextile, Mercury-Jupiter trine, Mercury-Mars sextile), which has been under such stress over the past six weeks. These aspects indicate that we now have mental support in areas where we have felt isolated, shredded, and under pressure over the past month.

The most debilitating weight of the world is being lifted off our shoulders and off our minds. Allow this process to do its work, layer-by-layer, and have faith that an acute dark period is now behind us.

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Neptune and Chiron Station Direct Trine Mercury in Scorpio: Cutting Through End-of-Era Backwash

Both Neptune and Chiron station direct in Pisces over the next ten days - Neptune at 2 degrees Pisces on November 13, Chiron at 9 degrees Pisces on November 19.

The wounding Piscean era themes are nip, nip, nipping at us through the end of November, and we're going to have to stay awake and alert in order to navigate our way through.

This is tricky because with these stations, things are a little sleepy, a little dopey, and a little...any of the other applicable Seven Dwarves.

The Moon enters Pisces tonight (8:36 p.m. CST) until early morning Wednesday, and this can exacerbate the effects of these stations.

I would sum the vibe of the next ten days up like this:

"Why bother changing into pajamas? I'm just going to have to get dressed again when I wake up in the morning."

These stations can have the effect of softening sharp edges, putting a warm glow over the proceedings. But things can also be slipped by us through these stations, and we can find ourselves doing things or allowing things that are not in our usual characters. You can read about some common Neptune stationing effects here: Neptune Stations Direct and Brings the Foggy, the Floaty, the Wispy, and the Surreal

Neptune went retrograde at 5 degrees Pisces on June 7, 2013. It has now completed that retrograde period and stations direct at 2 degrees Pisces November 13. This is an article from that retrograde station. The themes are kicked up again as Neptune and Chiron station direct in tandem:

"Hollow-gut disappointments hang around us like stale fumes. End-of-era love relationships are a confusing, disorienting mess. The idea that our dreams are not special, that we're not special under egalitarian Aquarius, can erode us at the heart. The discrepancy between where we hoped we'd be at this point versus where we really are is staggering at times - both personally and on a broader societal or collective level.

Anyone aware of the circumstances of humanity on Planet Earth at this time will find them humbling, to say the least...

Some lingering depression, disappointment, disillusionment, despondency, or a sense of utter futility about carrying on from here can be expected for the next couple weeks...There's an unfulfilled sadness in the air, in the collective psyche, so watch to make sure you or your loved ones don't tip too far into the psychic bleak.

The new guy wasn't who you hoped he was. The new job that seemed so interesting turned out to be more of the same. The daily grind seems increasingly dull, painful, pointless, hopeless. Reaching for the bottle, for the bong, for junk food, or for the credit card are all possibilities to dull the pain, to desensitize.

This is standard end-of-era backwash, however. More end-of-Pisces clearing. Fool me once, shame on you, Neptune. Fool me twice, shame on me.

Keep moving, keep flowing, and keep laughing at the insanity of the situations with which we are faced in this foul year of our Lord two thousand and thirteen.

It's the sensitives, the creatives, the Piscean/Neptunians who hold the true weight of where we are right now. They're the ones holding the energy of Pisces, the energy of the spiritual whole, where every last detail matters and nothing can be conveniently amputated or ignored without problematic future repercussions. They're the ones potentially being crushed under the cruelty, the inhumanity, and the dysfunction of the current scenes. Yes, it's that serious.

But it's also funny.

Isn't it?

To be set up with these seemingly impossible clusterfuck scenarios during our lifetimes on Planet Earth?

It didn't start with us, and it doesn't end with us.

But we do have a prime and shining opportunity to direct things now.

Neptune stationing, like prominent Neptune in the natal chart, can create a sort of stoner effect on even the most sober among us. Air-headed and flaky. Forgetful. Dreamy. Wistful. Pie-in-sky. Avoiding. Self-pitying. Indulgent. La La Land-living.

Stay on track and stay focused on your own newly burgeoning Aquarian-era ideals, despite the Neptunian fog tempting us to go down maudlin back alleys or to take diversionary, wishful-thinking detours. We have plenty of assistance in keeping our feet on the ground with the Neptune trine to concrete and steady Saturn in Scorpio. Focus on dealing successfully with the full reality in front of you, and the rest will take care of itself."

Recall that we're moving through some tough transits, aspects, and dynamics this November, but also recall that we're tougher.

Do whatever you can to keep your spirits up. Keyword: buoyancy

Mercury, now direct at 2 degrees Scorpio, is exactly trine stationing Neptune in Pisces, and at the very least, we are assisted with whip-smart intuition, X-Ray vision, and whispers from the otherworldly guides in order to penetrate the potentially painful dynamics.

Maintain your black sense of humour about the current conditions, speak up when you need to about the things that are oppressing you, and, above all, just keep going.

The Seahags

To ease our suffering minds, here's a little homegrown flavour, The Seahags. "On the Rock Where Moses Stood" and "Barefeet" are particular gems!

Suicide Risk Alert Through December 2

Please Note: This alert is not meant to scare anyone. It does not mean people will be randomly committing suicide. It means that for people already at risk of suicide, this month is potentially very difficult.

We're moving through a time period when concentrated, complex, and multi-layered problems are surfacing from the depths. These problems often have no immediate solutions, and this can drive people to thoughts of suicide or to actual suicide attempts.

There are times when the universe heaps too much upon us, and this is one of those times.

As Mercury (the mind) stations direct November 10 in the sign of death (Scorpio), people are under a great deal of mental, emotional, psychological, and psychic pressure, and it may become impossible for them to see beyond their problems.

This Mercury station coincides with a very emotionally and psychically heavy day for the collective - Remembrance Day in Canada and Veterans Day in the United States November 11. This is a time when the collective psyche is drawing up memories and realizations of mass death, war, pain, destruction, and unresolved trauma related to those things.

This exacerbates the difficulty for individuals, as they also have this heavy collective layer sitting on them at this time.

There is a great deal of collective denial at this time about the true state of things on the planet. This collective denial is always difficult for Scorpionic/Plutonic types who often do not have the luxury of turning a blind eye. The intense cognitive dissonance in the collective at this time can also break individual psyches down.

Currently, we are under the influence of multiple difficult transits and aspects:

We're opening out of a very challenging Scorpio New Moon eclipse, conjunct dreaded Saturn, on November 3, which brought many underlying issues to the surface. We don't fully come out from under the weight of these issues until the Sagittarius New Moon on December 2, just before Mercury leaves Scorpio for Sagittarius December 4.

The fourth Uranus in Aries - Pluto in Capricorn square is just past exact (Nov. 1).

We have a stellium of planets (Mercury, Sun, Saturn, along with the North Node of the Moon) in Scorpio, a sign associated with deep trauma, concentrated fear, and emotional and psychological hell.

Saturn is moving through an area of Scorpio in one pass, indicating a time of potentially intense challenge when we can be pushed out of our comfort zones in a big way, required to do heavy excavation in our lives related to multiple trigger subjects.

As stated, messenger planet Mercury is keeping all this difficulty on our minds as it slows to a stop in the zodiac November 10. All this can prey on people's minds in excruciating ways, and it's possible that they are seeing no way out at this time.

Wounded healer Chiron is stationing direct in Pisces November 19, stirring points of intense hopelessness and psychic overwhelm. Again, this is a "nowhere to run, nowhere to hide" type of theme, problems with seemingly no solutions, and people can simply give up under the difficulty of this.

Venus has just entered Capricorn and is activating the almost-exact Uranus-Pluto square. Venus squares Uranus in Aries exactly on November 14 and conjuncts Pluto in Capricorn November 15. The conjunction to Pluto November 15 is particularly harsh and can result in people feeling cut off from any love or social support. These conditions make it much easier for people to contemplate ending it all.

Chiron in Pisces will be at its most painful point in the direct station at the time of the Venus-Pluto conjunction, as well, indicating themes of isolation, grief, and a desire for escape.

Mercury conjuncts the North Node in Scorpio and triggers the degree of the September 18 Venus-Saturn-North Node conjunction on November 18/19. (I was asked when this suicide risk period began, and I would say around this time - equinox, coming out of the Venus-Saturn-North Node conjunction in Scorpio sextile Pluto stationing direct in Capricorn.)

Mercury will then conjunct Saturn in Scorpio for the final time November 25.

November 18/19 and November 25 (the dreaded Mondays) are dates when things are potentially pushed to a head, reaching crisis points.

The Sun enters Sagittarius November 21, and there will be some relief from the deep and troubling themes of Scorpio starting at that time.

As stated, Mercury leaves Scorpio for Sagittarius December 4.

Understand the month of November as a month of potential emotional, psychological, and psychic crisis. Much of the disturbance is going on beneath the surface, as well, with collective roots, and we simply do not see or perceive everything people are dealing with at this time.

Keep an eye on the people in your circle and beyond. Extend your loving humanity to those who are struggling, and do not heap any more on people already at their breaking points.

The business structures and "business as usual" ethic have to come much lower on the list of priorities now. Maintaining emotional and psychological health, assisting those in crisis, and saving lives are most important at this difficult time on the planet.

Mercury Stations Direct in Scorpio: Yanking Detrimental Mental Patterns Out From the Root

Mercury retrograde has just started slowing to station direct on November 10 at 2 degrees Scorpio (3:12 p.m. CST), and we're picking through trigger-happy conversational minefields all week.

Even the lightest of comments can hit raw nerves now, setting off reactions we may not have intended. Watch your tongue carefully.

That said, there will also be plenty of people intentionally trying to get under our skins. Slough those buggers off right away, and back out of any exchanges that seem to be heading into the trigger-happy danger zone.

We have to police our own thoughts and communication this week, maintaining tight boundaries.

When messenger planet Mercury is in Scorpio, the messages we're receiving can be uncomfortable, traumatic, or even devastating - especially with Chiron stationing direct in Pisces November 19. But these potentially difficult messages are ultimately also empowering, liberating, and consciousness-raising.

The information we're picking up and picking through can consume our minds now, creating scenarios with intrusive or obsessive thoughts. Fixed sign Scorpio takes us under and then holds us there until things really sink in. Some highly irritating and oppressive thoughts have been preying on our minds during the transit of Mercury through deep, dark, emotionally-dense Scorpio, which began September 29 and ends December 4, and these thoughts can increase in intensity going into Sunday's direct station.

To offset the mental depths, reel your brain in, and bring it back from the brink. Meditation, exercise, and good, solid mental discipline all help our cause. We're drawn to intense and even painful subjects now, but we have to keep our minds out of the bottomless pits.

There are some potent exchanges and connections in the works this week and next. The energy of the Venus-Saturn-North Node conjunction of September 18 is being stirred yet again as we continue to wrap our minds around the intensity of that time and what it meant for us.

Connections and conversations over the next weeks hit release points, liberating our minds and our emotions from some long-term oppressiveness, but we have to stay with it right to the end and have those squirm-inducing conversations in order to reap the rewards and find relief. 

During this Saturn-infused Mercury transit through Scorpio, we're working to get out from under that which oppresses us, severing ties to it, but it's going to take all our awareness and courage to do so.

We have to speak up over the next weeks about hidden energy dynamics that aren't right in our lives. We need to extricate ourselves from scenarios that put us at a disadvantage. And we have to allow time for the full realizations to rise to the surface of the conscious mind. Be gentle with yourselves and others, but be ruthless in the areas being drawn to your attention.

What intrusive thoughts do you want to eliminate? Whose opinions do you want to delete? What media and information sources do you need to get rid of? Are there perspectives that have undue influence over you? Anyone's crappy comments that have stuck with you for far too long?

Merc Rx in Scorpio is asking us to take action on all these fronts.

This week is great for getting to the bottom of detrimental mental patterns and yanking them out at the roots.

New Moon Eclipse in Scorpio Conjunct Saturn: Final Resolution of Via Combusta Themes

The New Moon eclipse falls at 11 degrees Scorpio on November 3 (6:50 a.m. CST), sandwiched in conjunction between Saturn at 13 degrees Scorpio and the North Node and Mercury, conjunct at 7 degrees Scorpio.

This is an important New Moon for a number of reasons.

As stated previously on the blog, Saturn is currently travelling through an area of Scorpio (11 to 16 degrees) to which it will not return in retrograde motion. Saturn is making only one pass through these degrees of the zodiac. This is it. So we have one kick at the cat with the themes of these degrees and one kick at the cat only.

As Saturn shoots through this zone (October 14 to November 26), we have to focus quite intently on keeping the energy in our lives just right. We are cementing a foundation now, halfway through the Saturn in Scorpio transit, that will either support our emotional and psychological health and development for the next 29 years or create hassles, issues, and karmic setbacks at various times over the next 29 years.

As usual with Saturn, we have to be quite serious about things. And in Scorpio, we have to fully understand our lessons - each and every angle - and integrate them into our selves and into our lives. No half-assing it.

If we have doubts, concerns, or intuitive misgivings about anyone or anything in our lives now, we're required to wait before making any further commitments.

From a previous post:

"If all our energetic ducks are in a row and if all the power dynamics have been worked out satisfactorily, this time period (Oct. 14 - Nov. 26) can result in some fairly easy progress with natural next steps occurring with projects and in career.

People will be moving into more structured and solid positions of authority this fall quarter, and this particularly includes positions involving shared power, money, and resources.

Under the ongoing stressors, people who have not fully earned their authority or positions, who have not set the right energetic foundations, will soon be in over their heads, however.

With Saturn conjunct the North Node this fall, be careful not to take on too much, too fast - no matter how promising things seem. The commitments we make or deepen this fall could be life changing and deeply altering for us over the long term. We must be very careful to follow our intuition down to the last twinge regarding decision and commitments made at this time, particularly involving legal contracts or money."

Not only is Saturn crossing the halfway point in the sign of Scorpio in this "single pass zone," but it is also completing its transit of the Via Combusta.

From a previous post:

"The Via Combusta is an area of the zodiac between 15 degrees Libra and 15 degrees Scorpio (except for 23 and 24 degrees Libra) known as the burning path or combustible way. Traditionally, it is associated with "unfortunate and ineffectual events."

My interpretation of the Via Combusta is humanized and comes from the point-of-view of a person experiencing life with key natal placements in this area.

When the Via Combusta is strongly highlighted, there is a feeling of running the gauntlet through sometimes seemingly insurmountable odds, collective karma, booby traps and friction, very often related to relationship dynamics, which are Libra and Scorpio territory.

There's a fire in the Via Combusta and within people with a strong Via Combusta signature that keeps them burning, burning, burning a path through life as you would imagine a shooting star burning an accelerated path through the night's sky. There's a feeling here that one has to keep going, no matter what, through the wreckage of old, crystallized layers that would keep us stultified, constricted, and unsatisfied with old wounds perpetually reopened by a revolving cast of characters.

The basic goal of the Via Combusta is to reach escape velocity. In space travel, this is the point a space shuttle reaches when its speed and momentum allow it to escape the effects of gravity pulling it back down to Earth. In the case of the Via Combusta, it's about reaching the points of awareness and pure momentum where we escape the gravity of the sticky, tricky wreckage trying to draw us back into old territory, especially involving old constructs and dynamics of relating.

But with Saturn in the Via Combusta, we have to earn the right to pass. We have to prove that we're mature enough, serious enough, and that we've taken full responsibility for moving on completely, resolving the bits of dramatic charge and the last karmic tendrils that would catch us, tempt us, and drag us back. This is escape velocity for the long-term, under the weight of Saturn."

With Saturn now completing its transit of the Via Combusta (November 21), we have to prove that we've earned our advancement beyond the sticky relational and energetic traps that could hamper us over the long run.

In Scorpio, we're dealing with dynamics that make us uncomfortable. These are dynamics that scare us, that trigger us or others, that feel as if we will never be free of them. They involved long-ingrained ruts and patterns. They are hidden, unspoken dynamics that latch onto us through ancestral lines. These are dynamics that have been the bane of many existences for generations, things that have been carried forward and carried forward - until now.

With Saturn at the tail end of the the Via Combusta zone of Scorpio, we have to be willing to eliminate every last unsatisfactory dynamic, even if that means standing alone under our own power for a while.

At this point, we have to prove ourselves unwilling to take scraps any longer. We have to prove ourselves unwilling to make due with subpar treatment or with a lack of consideration from others. And we have to confront and challenge, head-on, each instance of this shoddy treatment in order to cement new boundaries and standards in our lives. Each unsatisfactory dynamic has to be addressed and the energy of it re-directed.

Mars at 11 degrees Virgo is exactly sextile the Scorpio New Moon, and this re-direction of energy must be very precise. We must look oh-so-carefully at our own motivations and how we go about getting what we think we want. We must look at what we're doing, eliminating any areas of manipulation being used on our part to get what we think we want. And we have to get ourselves out of the reach of the manipulative grasp of others, also.

As much as possible, we have to eliminate areas where we're keeping ourselves stuck out of habit, emotional attachment, lack of awareness, or fear. With Saturn in the Pisces decan of Scorpio, we have the power now to dissolve fear-based energy patterns and ruts, propelling ourselves onto a new foundation for growth and development.

There is a breaking of habits required at this Scorpio New Moon, consciously altering our habitual emotional reactions and psychological patterns and re-training ourselves and the people in our lives accordingly.

There is an emotional and psychological regeneration coming through this Scorpio New Moon. A clearing. A weight being lifted off us. Concentrated layers we've been struggling under can be made visible, can disappear. But we have to gather all our courage and go for it.

The New Moon falls in a conjunction to Mercury and the North Node in Scorpio, and a big part of this involves analyzing and then voicing the hidden energy dynamics that leave us short, that use or drain us. We have to speak up, or it continues.

The Sun and Mercury Rx form their interior conjunction at 9 degrees Scorpio on November 1 under the Uranus-Pluto square and the Dark of the Moon. This Sun-Mercury conjunction is a little too hot to handle, as we are re-visiting the massively potent energy and themes of the Venus-Saturn-North Node conjunction of September 18.

Fall equinox (in the northern hemisphere) was one concentrated, complex, and potentially painful son-of-a-bitch. We processed a huge amount of energy through our physical, emotional, and psychic bodies at that time - and we're still processing!

Now, as the Sun and Mercury form a conjunction here along with the North Node, we are brought back into that equinox energy and will hopefully pick up some new perspective on all that has occurred since the days and nights balanced. This Sun-Mercury conjunction shines some light on the mysteries of that time period, and it all becomes even clearer as Mercury makes its final pass over the North Node in Scorpio on November 18.

We've been dealing with highly concentrated and highly karmic scenarios since Saturn entered Scorpio in October 2012.

But there is a sliver of light visible as we come out of this Scorpio New Moon, leading us into a new chapter, emotionally and psychologically liberated from many of the issues and fears that have preyed upon us.

We just have to want it more than anything - this escape velocity, this liberation, this new platform, this advancement beyond old traps.

Here, at the Via Combusta New Moon eclipse in Scorpio, we take responsibility for the energy we want in our lives, and we take responsibility for eliminating anything less.

We advance the new eclipse backdrop, dropping old scenes and setting the stage to our liking.

Since December 6, 2010, Saturn has been in the Via Combusta. It will leave this burning path November 21, 2013.

Because the advancement related to Saturn is gradual, step-by-step, and completed over the course of time, it's easy to lose sight of just how much progress we've made. When we're under Saturn's thumb, we keep our heads down, nose-to-grindstone, or we suffer the consequences.

But now, as Saturn zips through the final degrees of the Via Combusta, marking the halfway point through the sign of Scorpio, we can take a quick peek at how far we've come since December 2010, particularly in relationships.

Trust that there is a reason for your challenges - there was then, and there is now.

Saturn entered the Via Combusta so that we had the fire and the fuel to change our foundations. This is heavy, time-consuming work. We needed those potent, karmic, concentrated Via Combusta scenarios because they provided the most energy and the greatest possibility for advancement beyond old forms, particularly in relationship.

But we are soon through this burning zone. The alchemical reaction is reaching its peak. The molten lava we've been riding, shaping, and directing will soon start to cool and harden. As Saturn moves beyond the burning way, our scenarios become less fiery, less unpredictable, and less malleable. We will soon be left with the full reality and the full responsibility of what we've built.

At the time of this Scorpio New Moon eclipse and for the following 28-day lunar cycle, focus on using the last of the Via Combusta fire to set things just right in your life, in your relationships, and in your foundations. Work on the last little details, the last unresolved hotspots that could come back to bite you. Keep going until you've cleared your entire plate, and that will satisfy you and Saturn both.

A Challenging Week Ahead: Getting Out From Under the Detrimental Weight of Things

Photo: Willow

We have a potentially challenging week ahead of us October 28 to November 3.

The Mars in Virgo opposition to stationing Chiron in Pisces (exact October 30) is dropping the fog in a big way. End-of-era listlessness, confusion, lack of direction, and "aren't we done yet?" are sitting on us, dragging at us, making the material world that much more difficult. Mars in earth sign Virgo is riding our asses on the details, but one more overlooked detail on our plates could push us over the edge. This is the material realm versus the metaphysical/unseen realm, and keeping the right balance is our goal and our challenge.

Chiron stationing in Pisces makes us want to throw our hands up and weep at the state of it all. This body in this sign in this direct station has a numbing effect, an anesthetizing effect. It tells us to just roll over, pull the covers over our heads, and go back to sleep. The crushing collective psychic pain wrapped up in this placement is tough under any circumstances, but at the end of the astrological Piscean era - where we are now - it can be downright miserable. Expect people to be spacey, easily confused, and easily discouraged this upcoming week. Sensitivities of all kinds are heightened, including to food, drink, and drugs.

Then on the other end of the polarity we have peppy, active drill sergeant Mars in Virgo barking, "Buck up, for God's sake! Get in the game. Show us some drive. How little heart can you possibly have that you're just going to weep and wallow and sigh and give up?" (The full Mars in Virgo post can be found here.)

Mars in Virgo wants us in tip-top shape. No screwing around with the usual Neptunian escapes: excessive junk food, sugar, drinking, drugging, TV, music, internet, shopping, daydreaming, sports, gambling, sex - whatever diverts our attention from the matters at hand.

We can utilize some of these Neptunian escapes in tight moderation and for limited times to ease our psychic and emotional suffering this week, but we have to maintain just the right medicinal doses to keep us balanced and sane.

No going overboard, and no crossing the line, though Chiron in Pisces has us wanting to slip away - far, far away - from it all.

No slipping!

We have some sucking it up to do this week, princesses.

And nothing helps one counteract the clinging, cloying depression and inertia of Chiron in Pisces like penetrating to the sources, to the roots, of all that collective psychic pain.

Mercury retrograde is on its way to a second conjunction to Saturn in Scorpio October 29. This adds to the potential for depression, anxiety, dread, and a feeling that it's all too much for us this upcoming week. (The full Mercury in Scorpio retrograde post can be found here.)

One of the keys to getting out from under the paralyzing, suffocating weight of these times is to tunnel down beneath the Band-Aid cures, beneath the glossy, inspirational idioms, right to the roots of the situation.

There are power dynamics and scenarios and relationships creating depression for us now. Pinpointing exactly what's going on can be painful, but ultimately it is liberating. In fact, penetrating to what's really going on, beneath all the symptomatic pain and depression, is ultimately the only liberation right now.

With Mercury (conversation) coming together with Saturn (depression), people are talking about depression, and this is a good thing, for the most part.

Depression is often talked about as if it is a disease, and it certainly can be.

But depression is also a natural bio-chemical response to the state of things on this planet. This is what most people miss. Or maybe it's what they choose to gloss over because then they are not in control. Then the issues snowball. They become huge and unmanageable via the usually prescribed methods. And there is no real solution - only understanding, acceptance, love, endurance, and a willingness to stare it all down, to expose it.

One of the biggest sources of fuel for depression these days is the degree of collective denial we are living with en masse. It's emotionally upsetting, to say the very least. This is the distance between the bottom line reality on this planet and the way most people - including our so-called leaders - are living. The decisions being made and the options being presented don't have much basis in that bottom line reality. Most are living in an artificial state of manufactured reality, and there isn't much that is more depressing to a natural, biological being than living in artifice. Take a look at the animals in the zoo.

We are connected to the living beings who are suffering on this planet, and they're connected to us and to our suffering. And when that suffering is denied, avoided, glossed over, brushed aside, it adds a heaping helping of psychic disturbance to our psyches. Did you really think you were just going to go about your happy, happy life while the majority of this planet suffers under systems and structures that create and reinforce that pain? That's not how life on this round, rotating ball really works.

You remember what went on in Iraq? What's still going on? Well, the devastation and pain from that is monstrous, unimaginable, and it has ripple effects that haven't even gotten started yet. We're going to be dealing with this one for centuries.

You know the nightmare going on in Fukushima these days? That affects you. It affects all of us. It seeps into our psyches, whether we pay it any conscious heed or not. We're tied to the water on this planet, to the creatures in that water. We're tied to the workers on the Fukushima front lines who are being irradiated as I type. We're tied to the emotional and psychic states of other living beings. We can't separate ourselves from this "terrible tragedy that's happening somewhere else." We're teetering on the brink, right here, right now, and we have been since March 11, 2011.

You remember when we thought the oil gusher and massive, criminal dosing of Core-exit in the Gulf of Mexico was the big collective problem? Doesn't Chiron in Pisces have a funny way of putting things in context for us?

We live in a world that wants to separate people into the happy and the unhappy, the joyful and the depressed, the fortunate and the unfortunate, the normal and the abnormal, the positive and the negative.

But those distinctions are not real.

If the scenarios on planet Earth during transiting Chiron in Pisces (2011 - 2019) teach us anything, it's that what affects one will eventually affect all. There is no real line between the fortunates and the unfortunates. We cannot separate ourselves from the corruption, the murder, the erosion, the destruction, the poisoning that is going on - no matter what dimension you mistakenly believe you are ascending to, no matter how much fake currency you have in your bank account.

The fascists didn't really lose the war.

And now they've gotten into our food, into our water, into our air, into our minds, into our psychic environments, into our relationships, and into the social fabric that holds us together.

They have people chasing money and luxury items and tropical vacations and 200 "likes" on their seductive, social media selfies. They have people chasing a highly skewed idea of "success," all so very poisonous and destructive during the Pluto in Capricorn years.

They have people regimented in inhumane 8 to 5 office schedules that do not take into account the natural ebb and flow of energy in a biological organism.

And they have people convinced that if they can't sustain this grueling Monday to Friday march, they are worthless, damaged, less than whole. In short, if you can't keep up with that relentless, robotic, fluorescently-lit pace, there's something very, very wrong with you.

If you have to work two or three jobs just to keep a roof over your head and food on your table, there's something wrong with you.

If you are a man who can't work 14, 16, 18-hour days, there is something wrong with you.

If you are woman who can't cheerfully whip up culinary delights for her family every night of the week after working a full day, there is something wrong with you.

They have people snowed, that's for sure.

They have people blaming themselves for situations that have been planned and orchestrated to be just this bad...and worse.

There is a natural ebb and flow to the energy of a human being. The Moon cycles are a big indicator of this. But we are in the Pluto in Capricorn years: caffeine and drug-fuelled to keep us going and going and going. We are in a series of years when it's considered a sickness if you need to rest, if you need to slow down, if you need to just stop for a little while.

We're convinced by a toxic pharmaceutical-pushing medical establishment that we need to be medicated. We need to be more "up" or more "down" or more something in order to be normal, sane, healthy.

Not once does that medical establishment look at the insanity of the constant merry-go-round. Not once does it look at the intentional disruption of the biological systems on this planet. Not once does it look at our food, our water, our air, our mental, psychic, and physical environments.

And so it misses the point.

With Mars in the sign of the worker making an opposition to Chiron in Pisces, it's your job this week - our job - to get to the point. To root this the fuck out so that it stops preying on us.

It's our job to make the connections between a) how we feel and b) what is going on on this planet that could be leading us to feel that way.

It's our job to tunnel down to the last despicable roots, to the last areas of manipulation, and to pull it out. All the way. No half-assed jobs.

It's our job this week to look at the basic facts, at the basic realities, and to make our decisions from there.

It's our job not to make ourselves pathological just because our biology is responding in a perfectly understandable fashion to stressful and frightening situations.

It's our job to understand depression as a natural and normal reaction to a world that has gone way off course. It's our job to integrate it as much as possible, to keep our emotional states as fluid as possible, to feel it all, right down deep, but not to allow it to drag us under and keep us there.

We're moving into a New Moon in Scorpio conjunct Saturn on November 3 (7:50 a.m. CST). This New Moon is also an eclipse.

This means we are in the Dark of the Moon for a good chunk of this next week, one of those natural energetic low points I was talking about. Again, understand the insanity of a system that ignores this fundamental energy cycle, this Moon cycle, this ebb and flow, this soul root. Don't make the natural reactions of your biology and emotional chemistry into the insane things.

During this Dark of the Moon phase, we experience All Hallow's Eve October 31, a time when we have to be very energetically vigilant. We also experience the fourth of seven squares between Uranus in Aries and Pluto in Capricorn on November 1.

Again, putting personal feelings and reactions into their broader context is necessary. Things are being planned and orchestrated according to this square series, just as they were in the 1930s when we last experienced a series of squares between these two bodies. There is evil on this planet attempting to direct us into a death march, and the only way we don't succumb to the depression of this is to continually expose it, rip the mask off it, get pissed off about it, talk about it, laugh at it, and look at the ugly, ugly things it is doing so that we can break its hold and its manipulation wherever we can.

Getting to the deep-down emotional and psychological roots is necessary. Understanding the pathology of the structures, the power hierarchies, the relentless corporate pace, and understanding our natural reactions to that pathology, is necessary.

To get out from under the most detrimental weight of all this, we have to put it into context. We have to see it clearly. We have to stop blaming ourselves. We have to put our emotional and psychological reactions into their proper context until they don't seem insane at all. Until they seem downright valiant!

This upcoming week, if you do nothing else, break out of the current medical establishment mindset that makes individuals sick, damaged, and pathological without any correlations made to the sick, damaged, and pathological collective structures and ways of doing things.

Refuse the weight of this bullshit diagnosis. Refuse all the bullshit diagnoses. Don't make your emotional reactions to these upsetting times a bad thing, a wrong thing. Trust your emotional body, and follow its cues and impulses in order to stay the course.

Strength to you all, and keep your spirits up!