Friday, May 17, 2013

Mercury-Saturn-Pluto Yod, Mercury Square Neptune and Chiron: Conversational Maya Remover

Mercury square Neptune: Where am I? What dimension is this? Got any Cheetos?
Photo: Willow (with no Photoshopping)

Communication and intelligence planet Mercury in Gemini is currently squaring Neptune and Chiron in Pisces, and we're attempting mightily to gain perspective on our "new era" positioning. Wrapping our minds around exactly where we are right now and exactly what it means is easier said than done, however.

We've just come out of the long, hard, and disorienting winter of 2012/2013 with a seven-body stellium in Pisces symbolically indicating both the end of the astrological Piscean era and the beginning of a new expression for the sign of Pisces. We've shed (or are shedding) the last bits of Piscean-era cocoon, opening into new love, new union, and new communion for a new astrological era. We're holding a place for Piscean sweetness, innocence, love, and togetherness in an era that preaches individuality, self-sufficiency, independence, and detachment, and this leaves us emotional and vulnerable in the process.

How we show and experience ultimate spiritual love and communion have changed, are changing. 

With Mercury in Gemini squaring Neptune (May 18) and Chiron (May 22), we're gaining perspective on where we are now and what it means one conversation, one exchange, one thought, one idea, one piece of information at a time. What we're learning may not be completely clear to us under this aspect, however. We can expect some confusion, some illusion, some mind fog, and some difficulty in expressing our points, continuing through next week. If you're experiencing conversations that circle around and seem to go nowhere, just make like a slippery fishy, and go with the flow.

Love, money, values, and relationship planet Venus is also in Gemini. It squared Neptune in Pisces May 13 and will square Chiron in Pisces May 20. This creates the possibility for some lingering disillusionment and disappointment in romance and relationship. The information we're receiving from others can deflate some of our hopes or dreams. Character weakness and inferior influences could rise to the surface in ourselves and others. Things are not exactly as we thought - a common Piscean/Neptunian theme - and we have to keep talking, keep interacting, keep gathering perspective, even when it's painful, to determine what's really going on.

The Venus and Mercury squares bring new dreams, fresh and potent, bubbling up into our conscious minds and mouths, along with new perspective on old ideals, particularly in love, relationship, and partnership. But this is also very confusing and potentially disheartening. We're wading through the old and the new at the same time, not completely sure which is which at times. We're trying to make up our minds about which long-cherished dreams and ideals have to be surrendered, morphed, re-jigged, and which ones move forward as guiding lights.

How much can we compromise, if at all? How fluid can we be? How can we move toward shared dreams when our dreams are in such a state of discombobulating morph?

The Uranus in Aries energy - forming its third of seven exact squares to Pluto in Capricorn May 20 - is driving us into extreme individualism. Survival. Independence. Self-sovereignty. Razing emotional attachments as we blaze new trails.

Pretty far from the Neptunian/Piscean ideal of loving union, communion, togetherness, compassion, unbreakable connection and inter-relation. One. Whole.

Uranus (uranium) and Pluto (plutonium) squaring off into 2015 are splitting Piscean-era atoms and Piscean-era communion. The way energy works is different now. What holds us together is different now. And it's a very steep learning curve as we put things together on the fly.

How much can we detach? How much detachment will kill us and other living things? How much will disconnect us from our souls? How much is pathological?

These are questions we have to answer through Aquarian experimentation now, and this makes for some very unstable and unpredictable dynamics, especially in relationship.

With Mercury and Venus conjunct in Gemini and forming multiple aspects, love, money, values, beauty, and relationships are primary themes, as well as the talking and thinking (Mercury) about love, money, values, beauty, and relationship (Venus).

Both Venus and Mercury will conjunct the degree of last June's historic Venus Transit (15 Gemini) on May 21 and 22, increasing the "new era relationship" themes.

After the exterior conjunction of the Sun and Venus in Aries on March 28, also conjunct Mars and Uranus, we are truly in new relational territory. There is no protocol, no blueprint, going forward from here. We're learning as we go.

Mercury in its domicile of Gemini is a facile information collector. It gathers perspectives, thoughts, ideas, information, and messages that help put things in context. The influence of squares to nebulous and filmy Pisces/Neptune at this time, though, makes the grasping of the full perspective elusive or impossible.

The current astro climate tells us in no uncertain terms, however, that we really do need to figure this out. We really do need to keep the conversation flowing, regardless of difficulty, even in meandering fits and starts.

In addition to the squares to Neptune and Chiron, Venus and Mercury in Gemini are also triggering the double Yod formations we experienced around the time of the Jupiter direct station in January 2013. The Sun in Gemini re-activates these configurations May 27 - June 1, and Mars follows suit June 7 - 15. The Yods were strongly in effect December 2012 through mid-April 2013, bringing about new understanding through awkward exchanges. They helped us acclimatize to the oddness of Aquarius and also to the necessity of being around people who see things very differently from the ways in which we do. Now, we put some of that into active and immediate practise.

Saturn and Pluto are currently digging up the dirt and the suppressed muck in retrograde motion. Mercury in Gemini pushes into quincunxes to Saturn Rx in Scorpio and Pluto Rx in Capricorn May 18-20, and our conversations become alchemical, catalytic, dangerously potent, as Uranus in Aries and Pluto in Capricorn form their third structure-busting square.

Things we hear or say this upcoming week could bust things wide open. Don't be shocked if your words trigger reactions you had not intended. There are underlying feelings, psychological realities, and suppressed energies that must come to the surface in a controlled way now, spread around through bits of daily convo, and you just might be an agent for that.

Mercury in Gemini likes to keep it light and conversational. But with quincunxes to those hardcore brutes Saturn and Pluto, we're going to hear subtext in people's words and tones that potentially confirms our fears. Even the lightest of comments can hit us in the gut with the deeper understanding of what it really means under the sociability.

With Venus and Mercury transiting Gemini, we're forced to gather more information, to have further conversations, but we're scared of what we're going to hear. There's a very good likelihood under these aspects that we will hear something that displeases us, upsets us, threatens our security.

With the North Node and Saturn coming together in conjunction in Scorpio (exact September 18), the successful soul-driven path involves confronting and working through some of our deepest fears. We're looking down some very dark corridors, contemplating some very disturbing possibilities, walking the gut-churning razor's edge. And we have to feel it. We can't cut ourselves off from it or avoid it. Our emotional and psychological depth work is the only thing that can keep things on track now. One extrication at a time. No more dirt hidden under any more rugs. It won't stand.

Mercury in Gemini in Yod formation and squaring Neptune and Chiron in Pisces is the Conversational Maya Remover. This upcoming week, we're being asked to dig through the superficial layers and comments to get to the real, stone-cold reality. We're asked to honour the often-uncomfortable process of truth and reality rising to the surface. And we're asked to divine down deep for the courage to be true to that process, carrying it through to completion.

The Sun enters Gemini May 20, shining light on the Neptune and Chiron squares May 26 and June 3 and re-activating the Yods May 27 - June 1. These solar aspects should assist us with clarity of perspective, though there is also the possibility of painful personality or self-expression issues. An eroding feeling that we are not special, alone in our pain and isolation. This is transient.

Mars enters Gemini May 31, activating the same aspects June 7 - 15. Proactively dealing with anything that comes up now can head off anger, frustration, and fights during that time.

Mercury and Venus move from angsty Yod territory into a gorgeous triple conjunction with Jupiter on May 27/28 at 23 degrees Gemini. This triple conjunction of Mercury with the two benefic planets in Gemini brings us a dual scenario. There is the possibility for "peak experiences," so to speak. Conversations and information coming to us that will renew our faith in almost miraculous ways, releasing long-standing doubt, unease, and fear.

But there is also the wading through of the end-of-Pisces disappointment, desolation, weakness, and pain.

The frictional (yet potentially productive) squares between the bodies in Gemini and Neptune and Chiron in Pisces hold the pain we carry from dreams deferred, dreams disappointed, dreams unrealized. The perspective we're gaining now, heading into the Mercury-Venus-Jupiter conjunction, will be inspirational and exciting but also potentially painful and disappointing. Two twins. Two realities existing at once. Juggling this is our challenge.

We're being asked to remove the layers of maya, to see clearly where we are at this time, and it's through verbal and written interactions, through thoughts and realizations, through gathering more information, that we release the illusions that could hold us back and keep us down.

There are painful points here and over the next month related to communication, interaction, and perspective. But removing the last of the maya that could keep us from realizing our dreams in the new astrological era is worth the effort and the struggle now.

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Officially Becoming the Town Astrologer

I've been moving households over the past while, and in true Taurus stellium fashion, the process has taken a little longer than I expected - though it's unfolding with the right timing. The earliest date I could get for a telephone and internet hookup is this Friday.

So as of next week, I will officially be the town astrologer in a tiny Saskatchewan village, living in an apartment above the library in a semi-spooky, old, brick character building on Main Street. Who would have thought?

Mercury moves out of Taurus and enters home sweet home Gemini this afternoon, joining Venus and Jupiter in the sign of the communicator. The Sun moves into Gemini May 20 and Mars enters Gemini May 31.

If you've been finding the earthiness and slow pacing of the Taurus stellium a little arduous, never fear. The mutable winds of Gemini are blowing, and things are going to start moving as early as this evening with the Mercury ingress.

Incidentally, I'll be living on Main Street, along a provincial border, a state border, and a rail line. Very Gemini.

If anyone has been wondering about the lack of posts, this move and slow internet hook-up are the reasons. Everything should be on track again by next week. Thanks for your patience during Taurus season, and I hope it's been a productive one for all of you, too!

Saturday, May 4, 2013

Taurus and the Behaviour of Bovines - Re-Post

We currently have a stellium of planets in slow and steady Taurus (Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars, along with the South Node and Pallas Athene) and are heading to a Taurus New Moon eclipse on May 9 that a lot of people seem to be working themselves into a lather over.

In light of all this hyped-up eclipse fervour, I'd like to offer some very Taurean advice:

Just chill out.

If something shakes out in your life at the time of this eclipse, something needed to shake out in your life at the time of this eclipse. It's as simple as that.  

We experience two or three eclipses every six months, like clockwork. These eclipses are not an anomaly.

In times of yore, people were understandably freaked out about eclipses. It was more than a little unnerving to see the Sun or Moon "go out" without really understanding why. People would stay out of the light of the eclipsed Sun or Moon for fear that it would bring them bad fortune.

So there is a traditional store of fear related to eclipses, not completely unfounded, but (in this astrologer's opinion), over-emphasized and hyped to the nines in post-post-modern day astrology.

It's true that this New Moon eclipse at 19 degrees Taurus falls exactly conjunct female warrior asteroid Pallas Athene and closely conjunct male warrior planet Mars, as well as the karmic, karmic South Node. This can certainly ramp up fighting and aggression around the time of the eclipse, but this isn't all au naturel. War manoeuvres are often purposefully timed according to astrological/astronomical events like eclipses.

Israel timed a major attack against Palestine for the last Scorpio New Moon eclipse November 13/14, 2012. That eclipse was conjunct unfortunate fixed star Unukalhai (Alpha Serpentis). You can read about that here: Israel Opens the Gates of Hell at the Alpha Snake New Moon

Today, as the Moon moves between the Scorpio Full Moon eclipse April 25 (the culmination point of that Scorpio New Moon eclipse) and the Taurus New Moon May 9, the news is telling us that Israel has just launched an air strike attack against Syria, targeting a shipment of missiles said to be intended for Lebanon. (Because, as you may have noticed, only the "good guys" like Israel and the U.S. of A. are allowed to have missiles, nukes, and weapons of mass destruction.)  

All this taken into consideration - if you haven't noticed, this planet has been under a state of financier-backed siege for decades (centuries? millenia?). This is nothing new. It's not right, but it's the state of things. Eclipses are not to blame. Greedy, murderous sociopaths masquerading as our leaders are, as well as those who do their bidding.

To lighten this hyped and charged state of affairs, I'm re-posting an article I wrote last year about Taurus and the behaviour of bovines. From May 19, 2012:

Photos: Willow

I've been a ranch helper for the past few weeks, and you can't really get much more Taurean than that type of work. It's life on the land, on prairie grassland. It's physical work. It's animals and plants and dirt, wind and rain, sweat and sun. The work unfolds according to natural timing, according to the seasons, and it follows a similar course every year. Farmers and ranchers are time keepers in this way. They work according to old, nature-based rhythms and keep those fundamental energetic patterns anchored, just as the animals themselves do. When the Sun goes up, it's time to work. When it goes down, the work day's done. Simple.

It's coming to the end of calving season now, and the babes are running around all over the place. Watching cattle always reminds me of how much you can understand about the sign and energy of Taurus through the behaviour of bovines.



Understanding The Sign of Taurus Through the Characteristics of Cows

1) Taurus is a fixed sign, and cows have a fixed nature. They really don't like to move all that much, especially if they've just had a calf. Cows don't enjoy transition. They like their basic routines, and they're not fans of any upheaval or changes in those routines.

2) Cows are comfort seekers, just like Taurus. Once they're content, they like to stay put, enjoying the sunshine, grazing, and chewing their cuds. The only time they can be convinced to favour a change is if an option opens that brings them even more comfort. This generally involves more or better food - another Taurus favourite.

This is the transition going on right now. Every year, most of the cow-calf pairs along with steers and heifers are rounded up and trucked to a Native-run community pasture for the spring and summer. Once there, they have all the space and grass they could ever desire, but in order to get there, they have to endure the transition. They have to be moved from pasture to pasture at home and then up to the corrals to be worked before being trucked to the new pasture, and this definitely ruffles them a bit. Again, though, if the reward is there, they'll endure - just like Taurus.

To move the cow-calf pairs, my Dad rides horseback, and my mother and I (never horsewomen) each drive a vehicle through the bumpy-ass pastures in a mini round-up. My sweet ride is the 1986 Chevy farm truck. Just as if we were on horseback, we spread out and herd the cattle. Trying to determine how best to get cattle moving in the right direction gives us helpful hints for interacting with people with a lot of Taurus!

3) Cows, like Taurus, don't like to be rushed. They like to do things slowly, gradually, on their own timing. When they do move, they like it to be related to securing basic resources - food, water, shade, shelter from wind, or a comfortable place to lie down.

4) You can't pressure them too much. Cows will take some gentle guidance, but press too much, at the wrong place, or too quickly, and they won't do what you want them to do. If they feel excessively pressured, they'll rebel or freak out. They can be remarkably stubborn once they've been riled and will even jump a fence to get away. If an entire herd has been spooked in this way, they'll run through a barbed-wire fence. Suffice it to say, it's best to take it nice and easy on both bovines and Taureans, givng them lots of time and adequate space to make their moves.

5) Cows, like Taurus, enjoy working with a boundary. The easiest way to move cattle is by gently pushing them along a fence line to an open gate. Taking them through the middle of the open prairie is more likely to create confusion and panic. Boundaries and limitations can help them feel safe.

6) It takes them a while to get going, but once they have some momentum gathered, they follow a steady course. And once they have a steady course, they move along fairly quickly - no fuss, no muss.


7) Cows pretty much do what the rest of the pack is doing. This is the traditional aspect of Taurus. Once in a while, there will be a renegade cow who busts out on her own, but usually, they like to do what the other cows are doing, as long as it makes good, practical cow sense.

8) They seem very docile and gentle, and generally are, but cows can become very pissed off - and dangerous - if they feel threatened in any way. Like most animals, cows are very protective of their babies.

9) Just like Taurus, after a transition or upheaval, they need time on their own to settle down and get back to a state of calm contentment. Once the pressure is removed, it doesn't take them long to get back to a settled state.

Use these helpful insights into the ways of the bovine to keep the Taureans in your life (and the Taurus in your own chart) sweet, calm, contented, and moving in the right direction!

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Pluto in Capricorn and the Epidemic of Physician-Caused Injuries and Deaths From New Wave Pharmaceuticals

Iatrogenic injuries and deaths: injuries and deaths caused by the physician, unrelated to the original health complaint.

Iatrogenic injuries and deaths are occurring in record numbers. A conservative estimate of the number of people killed in the United States by correctly prescribed pharmaceuticals every year is 100,000. This statistic does not include the hundreds of thousands of people who are injured or permanently disabled by dirty pharmaceuticals every year. This statistic also does not include people who commit suicide due to adverse reactions without "provable" links to the drug. Suicide is a common side effect of many of the new wave of pharmaceuticals on the market.

Natural News: Hospitals and Doctors are Killing Americans in Record Numbers

From the United States Center for Disease Control (CDC):

- Sixty-one people die every day in the United States from pharmaceuticals (adverse reactions or overdoses).

- Reported poisonings have gone up 90% between 1999 and 2008. The major reason is the exponential increase in the use of pharmaceuticals, including all the new pharmaceuticals that have been fast-tracked onto the market without due testing and the pharmaceuticals that have been kept on the market despite known deadly/damaging side effects.

Whenever I see a commercial for a new pharmaceutical and the majority of the commercial is a list of the deadly and horrific side effects it can have, I'm transported to my Plutonic surreal insanity place. How messed up a society are we living in when a deadly drug is being advertised to people as if it's a new flavour of Pop Rocks? It's a type of messed up that we could only fully experience under transiting Pluto in Capricorn. Pluto (poison) in Capricorn (big business). Pluto (hidden control) in Capricorn (institutional hierarchy). Pluto (extreme dominance) in Capricorn (corporate oligarchy).

With Uranus in Aries (radical survival and necessary breaks from the old guard) forming its third exact conjunction to Pluto in Capricorn (poisonous corporate shenanigans) on May 20, these issues are in our face, up front and centre, more visible than usual, more challenging than usual.

Corporations and their foot soldiers are poisoning us en masse, and they're making off like bandits doing so.

On May 7, there will be a march on Washington by a group of people who have had horrendous, long-term adverse reactions to fluoroquinolone antibiotics. Major brands include Cipro and Avelox (manufactured and sold by Bayer) and Levaquin (manufactured and sold by Johnson & Johnson). The group is asking that physicians be educated on the dangers of prescribing these antibiotics. It is also asking that fluoroquinolones not be prescribed as a first-line antibiotic, as they are now.


Cipro is Poison is the website of a man named Jeff who has had one of the most severe adverse reactions possible to Cipro.

I hope none of us ever experiences the horror this man has been through. He's going through hell. It's truly unimaginable, and it's going on thousands of times over as these drugs continue to be prescribed like Chicklets.

My heart is with every single person on this Earth (and off) who has been poisoned or who has had his or her life stolen by an irresponsible physician prescribing these horrifyingly dangerous new wave pharmaceuticals.

Being poisoned and damaged by a fluoroquinolone is called being "floxed," as most of the antibiotics have "flox" in their names. Being floxed is fucking terrible. Really fucking terrible.

Jeff is now disabled by the symptoms and the damage done by Cipro. Thankfully, he has able to get disability benefits. Many others are not. They are sick, unable to work, and uncompensated - as I was - and they are forced to fight doctors and pharmacists who do not believe these types of reactions are even possible. Sheer ignorance masquerading as health expertise.

This is from Jeff's site, republished with permission. This is a lot of text, but I want to give the full story. Warning: This is graphic and real and raw. This is what these drugs are doing to people. 

20 Things Cipro's Warning Label WON'T tell you:

www.ciproispoison.com

1. As everyone knows, all drugs have potential side effects. In the vast majority of drugs on the market (over 95% of them), these side effects are transient--meaning they cease when the medication is discontinued. This is NOT the case with Cipro! Many of the side effects listed on Cipro's warning label (plus many others that are not) can actually be PERMANENT and result in lifelong disability! Bayer blatantly hides this fact, as the word "permanent" appears absolutely nowhere on the drug's warning label.

2. Cipro is a purely synthetic chemotherapeutic antibiotic in the fluoroquinolone (also called "quinolone" or just "quin") class of drugs. Over HALF of all fluoroquinolone antibiotics have been pulled from the market for their horrific safety records. And the ones that remain on the market (Cipro, Levaquin, Avelox and a few others) are no safer! A study of ADRs in Italy, published in 2005, found that among more than 50 types of drugs, fluoroquinolones were involved in the largest number of serious problems and accounted for 11 percent of all adverse events.1 Every single drug in this class carries a black box warning--the equivalent of a skull & crossbones--for its nasty side effects. A black box warning is the last step before a drug is taken completely off the market. There is NO SUCH THING as a safe fluoroquinolone antibiotic!

3. The odds of experiencing an adverse reaction to Cipro (including, but certainly not limited to tendon rupture) are MUCH higher than the warning label would have you believe. These adverse reactions are also much more severe and long-lasting than Bayer will admit to.

4. Cipro's warning label makes it sound as if tendon rupture is the worst possible scenario. What it doesn't tell you is that the drug is actually capable of unleashing an entire SYNDROME of systemic toxicity upon the patient which is often referred to by victims as "floxing" or being "floxed." Others refer to the condition as "fluoroquinolone toxicity syndrome." Regardless of what you want to call it, it is absolutely devastating and commonly includes 30-40 different adverse symptoms all being suffered simultaneously and often lasting for YEARS. Many of these symptoms are devastating in and of themselves. This Cipro-induced toxicity syndrome wreaks absolute havoc on every part of a person's body--every tendon and joint in the body can become affected, every organ (including the brain), peripheral nervous system (resulting in severe and potentially permanent pain conditions, dystonia, muscle weakness or autonomic dysfunction), vision damage up to and including temporary blindness, retinal tears and/or permanent double vision, permanent tinnitus (ringing in the ears), long lasting or permanent central nervous system damage (including relentless insomnia, memory problems, random panic, depersonalization, psychosis), chronic fatigue, multiple chemical sensitivities, severe muscle wasting, hair loss, skin changes, severe dryness issues (dry skin/eyes/mouth/nose), extensive dental damage and on and on and ON. While many of these side effects are indeed listed on Cipro's warning label, many are not. And again, nowhere in the drug's literature does Bayer acknowledge the existence of this devastating syndrome--nor do they disclose that if you fall victim to it you'll be experiencing nearly ALL of the ADR's listed on the warning label simultaneously! More than a few victims, as you may imagine, have been driven to suicide as a result of being floxed by fluoroquinolone antibiotics including Cipro.

5. Cipro attacks much more than just your tendons--it is toxic to ALL connective tissues including muscle/bone/fascia/skin/nerves/even cartilage!2 A laboratory study done on puppies showed that Cipro actually melts the cartilage out of their joints. (In case you didn't already know--cartilage does not regenerate! Once it's gone, it's gone). Degeneration of the cartilage matrix in humans has been observed following as few as two oral doses of Ciprofloxacin.3 This information has been known by scientists for over a decade now, and yet the word "cartilage" still appears absolutely nowhere on Cipro's warning label! There's a huge difference between "joint pain" (what is described on the drug insert) and complete joint destruction requiring replacement! And yet numerous individuals--both young and old--have had to undergo full joint replacement surgeries shortly after taking Cipro. People have also suffered osteonecrosis (bone death) as a result of taking this drug.

6. Cipro does not cause "tendonitis" as Bayer describes it on the warning label. Tendonitis is an overuse injury. Ciprofloxacin is directly toxic to tendon cells, chemically altering and destroying them on a cellular or even DNA level. Again--there's a big difference!

7. Cipro-induced injuries DO NOT HEAL NORMALLY, if at all. Floxed bodies lose their ability to heal. A small injury that would heal in a matter of days for a "normal" person often takes weeks or months to heal in a floxed person, or may not heal at all.

8. Cipro can and will attack your body regardless of your age or prior level of health. Do not think that because you are young, healthy or have never experienced any tendon or joint problems that you are safe taking this drug. It doesn't work that way! In fact Cipro is not even permitted for use in patients under the age of 18 because it can interfere with the development of a child's still-growing connective tissues. Cipro can render a top athlete of any age completely crippled and unable to walk, let alone workout or compete ever again.

9. Do not think because you've taken Cipro on previous occasions without any apparent problems that you're safe to take it again! Cipro's damage is cumulative, and the drug can turn on you at any time. This is not an allergic reaction we're talking about here. Everyone's threshold for the drug is different, but given enough of it, anyone can and will become floxed by Cipro. Once you have surpassed your threshold--that's it. There is no going back. Many disabled Cipro victims report having taken Cipro "successfully" a number of times before it finally turned on them.

10. Unlike most other drugs whose side effects surface while actually on the medication, Cipro is capable of causing severe delayed reactions that don't even manifest until long after you've finished taking the drug. This is unbelievably dangerous. What it means is that you could be experiencing a potentially permanent, crippling reaction to the drug but have NO IDEA until it's too late! Victims often report finishing their entire course of Cipro before "the bomb" finally goes off inside their body. It is not uncommon for a week or two to pass between the ingestion of Cipro and the onset of its toxicity. Once you become floxed, your risk of spontaneously tearing or rupturing a tendon continues for up to FIVE YEARS after you have ingested the medication! Obviously people who suffer delayed reactions often never make the connection between their sudden 'mysterious' health problems and the antibiotic they took days, weeks or even months prior, so these reactions go largely unreported. Worse, these victims often end up taking more FQ antibiotics at some point, which then cripples them even further.

11. People have wound up on crutches or in wheelchairs for the rest of their lives from as little as a few pills. As stated earlier, it is not uncommon for every tendon and joint in a person's body to become affected including shoulders, arms and hands, so there are instances where an electric wheelchair or motorized scooter becomes one's only option. You know you're disabled when you can't even wheel yourself around in a standard wheelchair!

12. In addition to being highly toxic to connective tissue, Cipro is also a neurotoxin capable of crossing the blood-brain barrier and causing severe long-term neuropsychiatric side effects. These include random episodes of panic and anxiety, relentless insomnia, seizures, confusion, depersonalization, psychosis, memory loss, paranoia and hallucinations. These side effects can result from as little as ONE pill and persist for years or in some instances even be permanent! People have ended up in psychiatric wards or worse--killed themselves--as a result of some of these psychiatric side effects. Imagine for a moment being unable to sleep more than 1-2 hours a night, every night, for YEARS.

13. There are entire online communities and support groups full of fluoroquinolone antibiotic (Cipro) victims, with new members unfortunately joining nearly every day.

14. Dental damage! Cipro can calcify all of the nerves in your teeth as well as permanently dry out your mouth, promoting extensive tooth decay and/or tooth loss. There are people in their thirties who now wear dentures as a direct result of Cipro destroying all of their teeth from the inside out. Others have had teeth literally break off at the gum line after becoming floxed. Again--NO mention of this anywhere on the warning label!

15. As stated previously, Cipro is a 100% synthetic chemotherapeutic drug. It works by interfering with bacterial DNA, preventing it from replicating. The problem is, how can a synthetic chemical differentiate between bacterial DNA and your DNA!? As it turns out, it can't. Hint: If your cells cannot replicate, your body literally begins to fall apart! Which--ironically--is exactly what happens when a person becomes floxed. Muscles rapidly waste away, tendons tear and rupture (sometimes even in one's sleep), retinas spontaneously tear, cartilage erodes from the joints.

16. The vast majority of doctors are completely ignorant about Cipro and its horrific and long-lasting side effects. Most won't believe you when you tell them a prescription antibiotic has caused your slew of sudden disabling health problems--even if your symptoms match the ones listed right on the drug's warning label! They'll insist that the drug can't possibly still be harming you days/weeks/months/years after you've ingested it. They'll try and tell you you're just getting old or they'll subject you to a myriad of expensive testing in hopes of finding an auto-immune disorder or some other explanation for your problems. Inevitably the tests all come back negative. There is no auto-immune disorder…you were poisoned by Cipro. Sadly, even if you do manage to find a doctor who is familiar with Cipro toxicity, there is absolutely nothing they or anyone else can do to reverse the damage once it has occurred. There is quite simply NO treatment for floxing--no remedy, no tonic, no antidote. Once the damage is done, it's DONE. And yet Cipro's warning label instructs you to call your doctor immediately if you begin showing signs of an adverse reaction! What's the point?!

17. Doctors often try to misdiagnose flox victims as having auto-immune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, since many Cipro-induced ADR's mimic those of auto-immune disorders. Other favorite misdiagnosises include reflex sympathetic dystrophy (also called chronic regional pain syndrome or CRPS), fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, scleroderma, Raynauld's syndrome, and Sjogren's. Very few doctors--outside of alternative practitioners--will ever attribute your slew of sudden health problems to your having been poisoned by a prescription antibiotic.

18. Bayer does not know the mechanism behind how or why Cipro cripples people (at least that's what they claim). They also do not care, and are not interested in finding out. Bayer does NOT like to hear from their victims and does everything in their power to silence them. Many websites set up in order to spread information and awareness about floxing have been threatened with legal action and shut down. Others have 'mysteriously' disappeared from the web over the years without explanation. We'll see how long this one lasts!

19. If you become crippled by Cipro, don't expect any lawyers to take your case. They will claim you were warned. Of course, as I have just outlined, you were not at all warned adequately or truthfully about the scope, likelihood, severity or duration (aka permanence) of Cipro's nasty and life-altering side effects. Then there's the issue of proving cause and effect and statute of limitations with a drug whose side effects sometimes don't even fully surface until years after being ingested! Talk about the perfect crime!

20. SSDI does not recognize Cipro poisoning as a diagnosis, so you will have to fight tooth and nail to obtain any disability benefits once you've become crippled. The very government that allows this poison to be handed out like candy then turns around and tries to prevent you from collecting disability benefits once you've fallen victim to it!

Jeff's Cipro-induced nightmare of symptoms:

* Crippling body-wide tendon/joint/connective tissue issues beyond all comprehension. I cannot even begin to explain in words how God-awful devastating and horrific this is. Bayer likes to call this tendonitis? This is NOT tendonitis--this is tendon DESTRUCTION. Tendonitis heals, this does not heal! Literally every single tendon in my body has been affected, even my jaw. My tendons now "catch" and become entangled. And by NO MEANS are my tendons the only connective tissue that that stuff destroyed--it has maimed my fascia, muscles, skin and cartilage as well. As it turns out, Cipro attacks ALL collagen-containing connective tissues. Forget the whole slew of other injuries this poison has caused me, the connective tissue problems ALONE are absolute devastation. The word "problems" doesn't even come close to describing this.

* Nerve damage. That poison has caused severe peripheral neuropathy affecting both my legs and arms. Terrible muscle weakness (at times so severe it feels like my legs are becoming paralyzed), pins & needles, buzzing in my feet, numbness, burning pain in the souls of my feet, bouts of severe skin sensitivity (feels like I'm badly sunburned), uncontrolled muscle jerking and fasciculations, ulnar neuritis that was so severe for the first year that at times my eyes would tear up from the pain, and all sorts of other odd "out of this world" nerve sensations. My arms and legs 'fall asleep' EXTREMELY easily now?even from doing seemingly simple things like sitting in a car or sitting on a hard chair for more than a couple of minutes. Prior to being floxed I didn't even like taking aspirin--now I have to take pain medication (methadone, tramadol & neurontin) every night before bed or else I cannot sleep, as the nerves in my legs flare up and feel like they are being sliced by thousands of tiny razor blades. From the looks of it I'll be on pain medication the rest of my life now thanks to this.

* Severe vision damage. This came on overnight, starting with intense eyeball pain. The pain in my eyeballs was so bad that if I wanted to look at something to my side, I'd have to turn my entire head or my entire body (which was also severely painful) because moving my actual eyeballs hurt so terribly. My close-up vision became blurry, and at a distance I began seeing double. I ultimately developed not one but two torn retinas causing me to have blind spots in my vision, along with numerous floaters that dart in front of my eyes at all times, light sensitivity, crazy after-images when I close my eyes and thousands of tiny little flashy things that go off like fireworks when I look out a window or am outside in natural light (which isn't very often, being that I'm crippled). These visual disturbances are terribly annoying and distressing, and serve as a constant reminder that something is terribly wrong with my body. I will have to have my retinal tears monitored for the rest of my life now to ensure I don't go totally blind.

* Torn fascia in my left ankle, both knees and right shoulder. These are HORRIFICALLY painful and affect the structural integrity of the entire limb as well as exacerbate my peripheral neuropathy. In case you don't know, fascia is a very thin yet strong layer of connective tissue that weaves in and out of every muscle in your body. It allows muscles to glide smoothly over one another, and at the same time literally holds you together. When it tears, shit comes apart! My fascia tears have NOT healed, but they have created very painful and restrictive adhesions throughout my legs. Are fascia tears anywhere on Cipro's warning label? NO. They are not.

* Shrunken leg muscles (or shrunken tendons which in turn pull my leg muscles extremely tight--I can't tell). All I know is that my thighs/calves are pulled 24/7, and they don't stretch--they only tear! It literally feels like all of the muscles/tendons in my legs have turned into tough, inflexible rawhide beef jerky. I cannot bear weight on my left foot or knee or place my foot flat on the floor anymore because my left calf muscle is so tight/shortened that it will actually rip.

* Severe rapid muscle wasting. I was very lean to begin with--6'3 and about 165lbs at the time I was poisoned. I dropped down to 139lbs within about a month--all muscle. GONE. Especially hard-hit were my legs. I developed a deep, terrible aching in the core of my legs during the same period which may or may not be a direct result of all the muscle wasting. Regardless, the pain remains to this day and is often so intense it makes me want to tie a rope around my neck and kill myself. My muscles get so severely sore that at times it literally feels like I've been brutally beaten within an inch of my life or have been in a horrible car accident. To think that a handful of pills taken over THREE YEARS AGO can still be causing me this much God-awful pain is beyond anything I can even comprehend.

* A few weeks after my initial poisoning, I developed a vasculitis rash all over my lower legs and feet--thousands of tiny red "blood" spots underneath my skin. All the hair fell out soon after and has never returned. The spots have faded somewhat but still persist to this day (pic). A good while later, similar spots developed on the backs of my arms which have not gone away either. I've also had issues with the backs of my hands (pic).

* Feet turn purple and blue and get ice cold, as if the blood supply to them has been choked off. They no longer look like my feet, but rather feet that belong to a corpse.

* Toenails turned yellow and developed large, raised horizontal ridges on them (these are just now growing out somewhat normally, three years later). According to my rheumatologist, the nail ridges indicate that a traumatic shock occurred to my system. Ya think!?

* Severe and unrelenting plantar fasciitis (not listed ANYWHERE on the warning label).

* Non-stop tinnitus. Constant screeching and ringing in my ears which continues to this day. It is so loud it has actually woken me up at night.

* My skin, which I used to get compliments on before I took Cipro, broke out with terrible acne soon after my initial poisoning and developed hundreds of little clear bumps--like granules of sand underneath my skin. At around the one-year mark my facial skin (which was always oily before) literally turned hard, became severely dry, and now turns over extremely rapidly to the point of sloughing off in huge unsightly chunks 24/7 (pic). No amount of lotion even comes close to helping. Forget becoming crippled--if you at all value your looks, Cipro is NOT the poison for you. The skin on my face is now ruined--not only is it severely dry beyond help, it has developed numerous blotches of hard, crusty, scaly orange/yellowish discoloration. pic1 pic2 My skin has become so fragile and easily angered now--I can no longer use any of the products I once enjoyed, as my skin can't handle anything with chemicals in it. Even something as simple as drying my face with a bath towel has resulted in this on a few occassions now. It is horrific what this stuff can do to your skin. And don't even get me started on all the wrinkles I've suddenly developed as a result of all this dryness...the skin around my eyes is now all cracked up like something you'd see on an 80-year-old!

* At the same time my skin dried out, so did my eyes, ears and mouth (a condition mimicking Sjogran's syndrome). I now have to use special ointment at night to prevent my eyelids from fusing to my eyeballs and causing potential serious damage to my corneas. I now wake up with my lips stuck to my teeth whereas before taking Cipro I used to drool all over my pillow at night. These things might not sound like a big deal, but they are?the dryness issues very much add to my never-ending misery.

* Severe pain in my TEETH. It feels as if there is electric current running through every single one of the nerves in my teeth. My teeth now feel extremely brittle, like they could easily break. They also shift around in my mouth a lot more than they used to which is very annoying and uncomfortable. For the first six months or so I would constantly bite my own lips on accident while trying to chew my food, as if I was no longer able to properly control my jaw muscles. Here's a fun fact: Did you know Cipro can actually cause you to lose all of your teeth? It sure can! But you won't find THAT anywhere on the warning label! Luckily none of my teeth have yet to calcify or break off, but I know of many Cipro victims who've suffered devastating dental problems soon after being floxed. I know of one guy who had to have every single one of his teeth root canalled at a cost of $40,000. I'll tell you this: I've never in my life even had a cavity. I've always been extremely neurotic about my oral hygiene, and the day my teeth begin breaking out of my mouth or start requiring mass root-canal procedures because of Cipro, there will be a bloodbath at Bayer headquarters. MARK MY WORDS. They've already destroyed my entire body beyond recognition?don't FUCK with my teeth. Again, had the warning label said ANYTHING about potential dental problems/tooth loss, I'd have tossed that poison in the garbage where it belongs so incredibly fast (or better yet, discard it as a biohazard so it doesn't poison the water supply).

* Arthritis in my fingers and TOES! I never even knew your toes could have arthritis!!! But trust me--they can.

* Joints making gruesome crunching and popping sounds.

* Extreme fatigue and weakness. Any repetitive action/motion wears my muscles out extremely easily now. I even have great difficulty SPEAKING because the tendons/muscles/whatever in my throat fatigue to the point where I have to simply stop talking. I'm also unable to stand for more than a couple of minutes. For this reason I only take showers once every 2-3 days. By the time I am out of the shower I am physically exhausted.

* Loose ribs! Talk about something out of a horror movie. I have nights when I can't even sleep on my side because one of my ribs comes loose! It literally "clicks" where the rib meets the sternum. I've spoken with other Cipro victims who've experienced the same thing--one has even had to have rib surgery to reconnect his rib to his sternum. This is clearly a cartilage issue, something Bayer blatantly OMITS from their drug warning.

* Overall extreme frailness. My body is so easily injured now it's scary. I get extremely nervous just being in close proximity to other people now because if someone were to accidentally bump into me or step on my foot or something, it would injure me. It's seriously as if I have the body of a 100-year-old person now (although I've seen 100-year-olds on television who are still a hell of a lot more active and able-bodied than I am). If I were to ever fall, it would be devastating to my joints and tendons. Luckily that hasn't happened yet, as when I do attempt to walk--we're talking from one room to the next in my house--I'm constantly grabbing for things to hold onto.

* Terrible night sweats during the first 2-3 months (gone now)

* For the first three months or so after I was poisoned, my CNS (brain) was also greatly affected. I experienced waves of random panic, extreme mental fatigue unlike anything I'd ever experienced before, terrible memory problems--I'd start to say something and forget what I wanted to say mid-sentence. No matter how hard I tried I had trouble remembering things people would say?I'd come home from doctor appointments and couldn't recall a thing the doctor said. I even suddenly forgot how to SPELL which was very scary for me. I've always been a very good speller but suddenly I'd catch myself drawing a complete blank when trying to type online, or spelling simple words wrong. (By the way, if you find any spelling errors on this website please let me know ;)). I essentially felt mentally retarded. I also suffered with insomnia for the first couple months. Not that it's easy to sleep when you're in massive full-body pain regardless of how you position yourself, but you get the idea. Luckily my CNS symptoms cleared up after a few months. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for many Cipro victims. While some people are hit physically, like myself, others are hit with horrific CNS side effects that can be completely devastating and last years or even become permanent. We're talking permanent insomnia, panic, depersonalization, etc. Again--this fact is listed NOWHERE on the warning label.

* The psychological ramifications I've experienced as a result of this never-ending nightmare are beyond anything I can even begin to describe. Depression from the pits of hell. I have been to hell. I am IN hell. Hell is a place on earth, and Cipro can take you there.


Please be so very careful about which pharmaceuticals you take. Don't take a doctor's or a pharmacist's word for it. Do research online before you put anything into your body. Fluoroquinolone antibiotics are just a drop in the bucket as far as the dangerous and deadly pharmaceuticals being prescribed around the world on a daily basis. Unless you need pharmaceuticals to stay alive, I would suggest you don't take them at all. Seek out natural treatments first, and use pharmaceuticals (prescribed or over-the-counter) as a last resort only.

Please do not take fluoroquinolone antibiotics unless it is the last option for you. There are many brand names, including:

■Cipro (ciprofloxacin)
■Levaquin (levafloxacin)
■Floxin (ofloxacin)
■Avelox (moxifloxacin)
■Noroxin (norfloxacin)
■Penetrex (enoxacin)
■Maxaquin (lomefloxacin)
■Vigamox (eye drops for pink eye)
■Zymar eye drops
■Besivance Eye Drops
■Ciloxan Eye Drops
■Iquix Eye Drops
■Quixin Eye Drops
■Ocuflox Eye Drops
■Ofloxacin Eye Drops
■Cetraxal Ear Drops
■Cipro and Ciprodex Ear Drops
■Floxin and Ofloxacin Ear Drops
■Baytril (for veterinary use)

Fluoroquinolones are also being prescribed to children and pets, including in eye and ear drops.

If you've found this post because you've been floxed, my heart is with you because I know how terrifying and horrifying the reactions are. Please know, however, that you are not alone. There are tens of thousands, probably hundreds of thousands, of people going through the very same thing you are.

These are some of the strategies that have helped me in my recovery process, and they might help you:

- eating simple, non-processed, organic foods - no pesticides, no herbicides, no additives, no MSG - and going back to a very basic, stripped-down diet
- eliminating foods that cause an increased reaction - this varies by person. Reading the advice of other FQ sufferers on this front can help narrow these down.
- no caffeine, no refined sugar, no alcohol (when I let up on this, I generally suffer the consequences)
- drinking non-fluoridated, non-chlorinated water. I started having spring water delivered, and it was worth every penny. Drinking mostly water with a little apple or orange juice once in a while helped me.
- using only natural and scent-free products - soap, deodorant, laundry soap, cleaning products
- limiting TV, computer, and other forms of artificial light - no movie theatres or concerts with flashing lights
- sleeping and resting as much as I need to
- seeing a good naturopath/energy healer
- following prescribed herbal remedies
- cranberry pills, uva ursi, and nettle tea for kidneys and urinary tract, B vitamins, folic acid, calcium/magnesium, Vitamin D, fish oil, probiotics (very helpful)
- gentle exercise as I could tolerate it
- talking about it (sometimes helped, sometimes harmed)
- support from family members
- faith and/or Plutonic will
- making however I feel 100% OK and accepted
- not getting the allopathic diagnosis or any bullshit "treatments" from doctors who didn't believe me in the first place
- no pharmaceuticals or over-the-counter drugs, including Aspirin, Tylenol, Advil, etc.
- allowing the heinous reaction to do its thing but keeping somewhat detached from what's going on in my body. Very hard, but helpful.
- thinking about how short a human lifetime really is
- being thankful that I now see so deeply into who and what is poisoning us on this planet
- connecting the dots as far as similar issues going on on this planet
- seeing the big picture, rather than focussing solely on my individual case
- fighting the bastards, speaking up, spreading information about fluoroquinolones


Fluoroquinolones are just the most recent crime against humanity commited by Bayer. For more, past and present, click here: Coalition Against Bayer Dangers

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Scorpio Full Moon Eclipse Conjunct Saturn: Ooga Booga!

There's a Full Moon partial lunar eclipse in Scorpio tomorrow, starting a series of three eclipses, and I'm going to keep this one very simple.

There are people, dynamics, and situations trying to fuck with you right now. They're trying to get under your skin, trying to scare you into devaluing yourself and what you do in this world. They're trying to undermine your self-esteem and your sense of security, getting you to accept scraps rather than holding out for your true worth. It's easier for them that way. Less threatening. They're trying to jostle you out of position, and they're using your own energy in this attempt.

The Moon pushes to its most full and illuminated point today and tomorrow. It's shining some love and light, all right, but this is of the Scorpionic 'tough love' variety. 

With Venus, the Sun, Mars, and asteroid Pallas Athene in Taurus, the inclination is to accumulate - people, money, ease, comfort, pretty things. Taurus is a tradition-oriented and fairly simple sign that generally wants to maintain the status quo. It digs the status quo. The status quo most often works for Taurus. Stable, easy, rewards-rich.

The South Node of the Moon is also in Taurus, however, indicating major pitfalls possible with certain expressions of this sign.

We have to balance our Taurean needs for simple and basic, for accumulation, for stability and security with the hardcore eliminatory function of the North Node, Moon, and Saturn in Scorpio. Getting down to brass tacks as far as who and what needs to go - and making it happen.

With a North Node in Scorpio and a South Node in Taurus:

In order to achieve physical security in the material world (Taurus), channeling money, value, and earnings into your life, you first have to make the underlying energy dynamics right (Scorpio) - emotional, psychological, psychic. You have to address and get rid of all the shit sandwiches people are attempting to serve you. You have to fight for your full value without backing down.

In order to accumulate what's right for you, you first have to eliminate what isn't.

This Scorpio Full Moon is a culmination of themes that opened at the November 13, 2012 Alpha Snake New Moon total solar eclipse in Scorpio. Underlying allegiances that had been simmering beneath the skin of the situations started to be drawn to the surface at that Scorpio New Moon.

From the Alpha Snake New Moon post:

"Underlying loyalties start to shake out under this Moon, and we start to get a clearer picture of where people stand as we head deeper into Saturn in Scorpio. Incompatibilities glossed over during Saturn in Libra are pushed to the surface, like it or not. Crossed motivations send up sparks. Lips will curl, unconsciously, showing our fangs if we come too near those with whom we lack inherent common ground. The ties that bound friendly allies during Saturn in Libra snap like dry, autumn twigs under Saturn in Scorpio. Soul compatibility is something altogether different.

Soul-deep incompatibilities go from cracks, to divisions, to chasms. There can be no doubt where we stand on the other side of this New Moon portal."

Now, as the Moon grows full in the sign of sex, death, regenerative healing, hardcore soul drive, and X-Ray vision, we get a look at these underlying allegiances and alliances under the full moonlight, and we get a chance to address them head-on.

We knew where we stood at the Scorpio New Moon last November. Now, at the Scorpio Full Moon, we put that fully into practise - or suffer the consequences (Saturn).

The North Node in Scorpio, coming ever-closer to the conjunction to Saturn (and Venus) this September, is asking you to eliminate every single person, dynamic, and situation that isn't right. Do it authoritatively, and do it now, when the concrete opportunity to do so (Saturn) arises. The Scorpio North Node is asking you to carve out a path that goes to the bone, to the core, stripping down to only the right energy dynamics, to only what's vital, to only what has some fucking life left kicking in it.

With the Moon conjunct Saturn in Scorpio, opposing all that Taurus, you intuitively know the people, dynamics, and situations that need to go. You know which ones are draining you, forcing you into unnatural positions, keeping you stagnant, afraid, or in a subordinate position.

At this Full Moon eclipse in Scorpio, it's time to make the final snips. It's time to get rid of every last drop of poison. Your emotions guide this process - the deep down, dark and dirty ones. The ones you might be ashamed of. How you really feel. How your soul really feels.

It might be difficult to muster the self-confidence and the self-esteem to address the muck and sever ties under these transits (Moon-Saturn), but if you muster it, you will be rewarded.

These are some subtle, gut-feeling twinges we're following here. Following even the slightest surface disturbance down to its root. Getting clear on what's really going on down there. And making the cuts.

Some traditional dynamics need to be skipped altogether. Some overall trends need to be bucked.

With Saturn so influencing this Moon, we're working with patriarchal authority figures and patriarchal institutions and the fear those things are built on and powered through. Money fears come through this and through the Taurus South Node. We're working on confronting and diffusing the at-times paralyzing psychological hold these fears can have over us. We're working through some of our deepest security fears at this Moon, saying "no" to them, breaking their influence.

It takes courage to sever ties to elements of our own "security." But it's certainly a false security if we have to swallow shit sandwiches in order to maintain it.

This is the type of false security that must be destroyed at this Full Moon, freeing our energy for a metamorphosis into a truly solid foundation. The soul-deep kind that cannot be shattered or disturbed by any event or individual on this Earth.

Emotional, psychological, and psychic security are more highly valued now. Scorpio energy is more highly valued now, and it's worth more than (highly manipulated) dollar bills.

Divine down to the roots here, at this Full Moon. Don't be afraid to look at anything kicked up by this Moon, though it may be uncomfortable.

Remove detrimental influences that drain and hold you back. Remove the influence of people who try to unsettle you. Do it quickly, completely, unceremoniously, and guilt-free.



Saturday, April 20, 2013

Building on the Sun-Venus Exterior Conjunction with Jupiter Conjunct the Venus Transit Degree

At the time of the Aries New Moon and Aries stellium earlier this month, Venus was in the sign of its detriment (Aries), and Mars was in the sign of its domicile (also Aries). The females and the feminine (Venus) were in a tough spot, while the males and the masculine (Mars) were living a little easier.

Now, just 10 days later, the tables have turned. Venus is now in the sign of its domicile, Taurus, and Mars entered the sign of its detiment, also Taurus, this morning.

The Sun and Venus are still within range of a conjunction, now in Taurus, and this blesses us with some much-needed ease and congeniality as spring starts to dig in in the northern hemisphere. These bodies were exactly conjunct on March 28 at 8 degrees Aries.

From the Aries New Moon post:

"The exterior conjunction of the Sun and Venus on March 28 was the first conjuction between these two bodies since the interior conjunction on June 5, 2012. That interior conjuction, with Venus retrograde in Gemini, also marked the Venus Transit, an event that will not be experienced again for more than one hundred years.

From a previous post:

"The Venus Transit is an eclipse of the Sun by Venus during which we are able to observe Venus passing across the surface of the Sun as it orbits between the Sun and Earth. Astrologically, this event will be marked by a conjunction of the Sun and Venus retrograde at 15 degrees Gemini on June 5, 2012.

Venus Transits occur in pairs in the same sign, eight years apart (one Venus cycle), and they do not happen often. The last Venus Transit - the pair to this one - occurred June 8, 2004. The most recent Venus Transits prior to the 2004/2012 set occurred December 1874/1882 in Sagittarius. The next set will occur in December 2117 and 2125, also in Sagittarius.

Suffice it to say, it's a noteworthy event during our stay on planet Earth...

[T]his indicates a shift in relationship cycles - one closes, another begins. Because the June 5 Sun-Venus interior conjunction in Gemini is also a Venus Transit, this shift in relationship cycles is profound and far-reaching. The upcoming Venus Transit acts as an official relational backdrop change between astrological eras. As of this event, we're no longer one foot in, one foot out. We officially move beyond Piscean-era relationship ideals and constructs and are propelled into the early stages of a new relationship paradigm - relating within the astrological Aquarian era. New tracks emerge that were previously unavailable. Relationships and we within relationship are not the same coming out of this June."

The March 28 conjunction of the Sun and Venus in Aries indicated a new chapter in Aquarian-era relationship has been opened, fresh and new, stemming from the monumental Venus Transit."

This exterior conjunction of the Sun and Venus in cardinal, initiating Aries injected new life and new direction into relationships, value systems, and money matters, indicating that potent new territory had been reached following the Venus Transit.

Now, with Venus, the Sun, and Mars in fixed and sensual Taurus, we take the new directions and dig in. Taurus is the sign of the bull and the sign of the farmer, and it's our understanding of natural timing that advances the initial sparks of Aries now, particularly in relationship. We're building a relational foundation that will support future progress.

When it's time to cultivate, you cultivate. When it's time to fertilize, you fertilize. When it's time to sow, you sow. When it isn't time for those things, you don't do those things. There's an order and a timing that comes around naturally every year. This is the simple and lovely wisdom of Taurus. Slow and steady wins the race. This slow and steady farmer wisdom and the natural timing associated are applied to both relationships and money matters now, and it's the females and the feminine force most strongly setting the timing and the tone.

Attention to boundaries and personal comfort are important whenever Taurus is strong, and this is the case now, as the Taurus bodies oppose Saturn Rx in Scorpio, which is digging up many uncomfortable creepy crawlies from beneath many rugs.

Sexual and emotional challenges, blocks, and intensity are being stirred now by Saturn in Scorpio, and it's the Taurus energy that helps keep things on the rails, ensuring we don't give up our sexual, emotional, metaphysical, or healing skills too soon, too intensively, in the wrong ways, or to the wrong people.

Saturn is requiring that we dig deeply to determine "what time it really is" in newly organizing Aquarian-era relationships of all kinds. This way, we know when it's time to cultivate, when it's time to fertilize, and when it's time to sow. Listening to and heeding the intuitive voice on this front might be a bit of a drag, but any sticking points or delays coming up now are purposeful. Any gut feelings or little twinges or doubts are purposeful and must be addressed concretely. In general with a Saturn transit, it's best to deal with each obstacle or challenge as it comes up. Anything avoided will simply circle back again at a later time, especially in the sign of Scorpio.

As the Sun and Venus continue to move through the zodiac in their exterior conjunction, in effect into early May, Jupiter in Gemini is conjunct the degree of the Venus Transit at 15 Gemini. The conjunction of this degree is exact April 18-23.

Our greater benefic planet on this degree is yet another nice marker of our new era progress. Jupiter has had a somewhat rough transit in the sign of its detriment, Gemini, taking part in two Yod formations and a long-term square to Chiron in Pisces. But at this point, not only has Jupiter moved out of range of those tricky aspects, it's also moving out of its retrograde shadow April 24, leaving this angsty territory behind.

More good (Jupiter) news (Gemini): Jupiter will make no further tense aspects during its final two months in Gemini.

In fact, the major aspect Jupiter will make is an "ice cream sundae with a cherry on top" sort of aspect - a conjunction to Venus at 23 degrees Gemini on May 28, just after conjuncting Mercury in Gemini. This is the lesser benefic (Venus) and the greater benefic (Jupiter) joining forces, and this one is lovely. Our communications, our words, our networks, and our interactions with local society and siblings (or with those who feel like siblings) are blessed around this time with many beautiful and even miraculous connections and re-connections possible. Misunderstandings - even long-standing - can be lifted under this aspect. Any effort on our part to those ends will be rewarded.

Jupiter enters the sign of its exaltation, Cancer, on June 26 and heads into Grand Water Trine territory immediately after.

We've made it to a new, post-Venus Transit foundation for love, relationship, values, and money matters. Relax into it whenever you can under this Taurus stellium (Sun, Venus, Mars, and soon Mercury), and appreciate the hard work you (and they) have put in to get here.

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Venus-Pallas Athene in Taurus Opposite Saturn Rx in Scorpio: "WWA Blog is Not Worth $2.50 Per Month"

Photo: Willow

The planet of value and money, Venus, is currently at home in Taurus, the sign of value and money, and will be until May 9. Venus is conjunct female warrior asteroid Pallas Athene in Taurus at this time, creating a powerhouse feminine influence in the sign of tradition, earnings, and security in the physical world.

Both Venus and Pallas Athene are opposing Saturn Rx in Scorpio, and this brings up themes of the valuing and undervaluing of astrological knowledge and infomation. The divinatory, digging, researching, uncovering, drawing up to the surface energy of astrological work.

I've been writing about the undervaluing of astrology for a while now, which is rampant in this "easy access" internet age, as well as the undervaluing of Scorpio energy, in general. This is emotional, psychological, sexual, metaphysical, healing, X-ray vision energy. Hidden processes that are easily put down, degraded, stepped on.

From October 13, 2011: The Bodies in Scorpio Oppose Jupiter Rx in Taurus: A Conscious Re-Valuing of Soul Energy and Scorpio's Mad Skillz in the Nether-Realms

"Scorpio works in the energetic realms - mostly hidden. Taurus works in the physical world - quite visible and what most consider "work." Taurus is a sign related to what is most commonly valued these days: money (and all the concrete things you can buy with money). Scorpio relates to complex energetic currencies.

From a previous post:

"Scorpio is a healing energy. It intuitively knows where the trouble is and gets right to work, divining and digging to trigger multi-layered release points. It isn't just treating symptoms, either. Scorpio knows it's either go deep or go home, and it puts forth immense stores of energy to go to the mat for people, driving right to the root of the problems that keep them locked up, inauthentic, programmed, and less effective than they could otherwise be.

Scorpio digs the poisoned thorns out - and if it's masterful enough, it gets them all.

But Scorpio's mastery is also it's downfall. Here's where the betrayal aspect of the sign comes into play. Scorpio is a liberating energy, an almost magical transformer of all things oppressive and stagnant and intolerable - and its emotional, psychological and psychic currency is woefully undervalued. Quite often, it's used and abused with little to nothing offered in return. It's left holding the bag with nowhere left to put the shit.

What Scorpio does is mostly in the energetic realms, and because so few people have developed the sight to see this type of energy work, people take it and run. Often, they take it and run right back into the same unhealthy patterns and dynamics Scorpio was expending so much energy to extricate them from in the first place."

This theme has been coming up strongly since last fall's Venus retrograde in Scorpio and has been triggered again now that Venus is back in the sign:

The currencies of sexual, emotional, psychological, and psychic energy as well as masterful Scorpionic healing abilities require a conscious re-valuing and re-working, eked out one interchange at a time."

Well, today, I'm not allowing myself or my site to be put down, degraded, or stepped on. Today, I'm doing some eking.

This morning, with the Sun (external presence and self-expression) conjunct Mars (attacks) in Aries, I got a lovely gem of a comment in the comments section telling me that this blog is not worth the price of a subscription. In other words, it's not worth the price of half a Starbucks per month to read. That's the price of the cheapest subscription option.

All the astrological and sociological information I put out here, in this reader's humble opinion, can be found for free elsewhere on the internet. Therefore, it's not worth a single dime to this person to read this blog.

What a worthless, worthless site I put out here.

I wonder why these people even keep reading it?

Incidentally, this comment comes from an individual who claims to read this blog "faithfully."

I don't need that variety of faithful reader.

So here's a Metaphysics 101 lesson for this reader and for readers like this person:

When you take from a site like this "faithfully" without giving anything back but your bullshitty and eroding comments, you are creating an energy drain. When you read a site like mine while holding an attitude like yours, you create an energy drain. When frenemies and haters read this site and use the information as if it is free for them to use, they create an energy drain. And when you further devalue this site with your passive aggressive (and semi-nonsensical) commentary, you are exacerbating that drain exponentially.

This reader wonders if anyone else feels the same about the relative worthlessness of this site.

I wonder that, as well. I wonder that because people who feel that way are not welcome to read this site and have no business being here. From this point on, if you hold that attitude, you are reading here against my will.

Don't take that lightly. I certainly don't.

It's also interesting to note that it's usually people who think they have astrological prowess of their own who make eroding comments on my blog. Either that, or they are coming in from another astrology camp.

I have to say, though, that what this person has to say makes little sense to me. "Losing the wisdom potential"? "Aries Uranus firebrands"?

Keep studying from the masters, honey. You might get there yet.

Venus in Taurus is opposite Saturn in Scorpio April 22 at 8 degrees of the signs.

Make damn sure your energy is not being devalued under these aspects, as well.

Monday, April 15, 2013

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