Patrons Not Receving Articles in their Email Inbox

I've received word that a couple patrons are not receiving their articles in their email inbox.

Patrons, would you please check to make sure that you are receiving the articles from me?

The last article that was sent out was titled: "Saturn Retrograde Sets its Steely Gaze on Late Scorpio: the Final Resolution of Old Heartbreaks, Hurts, and Unfinished Business," and I believe it was sent out on February 23, 2015.

My email address is also sometimes put into the Spam folder, so please check there, also.

If you have not been receiving your articles, please let me know. I will start a second mass mailout list and see if that solves the problem.

Thank-you.

Willow

Just a Little "Intensity Heads Up"

It's apparent that things are just plain too intense on Planet Earth at the moment, but the tension and edge don't appear to let up all that much for the next six weeks.

We're closing in on the seventh and final square between Uranus in Aries and Pluto in Capricorn, exact March 16. This is the first square of the series where both planets are moving direct, and the velocity with which things are moving and changing could make one's head spin.

We're blowing some major Piscean-era karma - personal and/or collective - out of the way here, and it may be a bit of a bumpy ride. We're advancing beyond old siren songs, mirages, illusions, disappointments, and old-era traps, and only Uranus and Pluto moving full speed direct into this final square in the cardinal signs could provide the energy and catalytic forward-ho we need to get this job done.

These themes are carried right through March equinox and the 29-degree Pisces New Moon total solar eclipse on March 20 and into the following 28-day lunar cycle. Pace yourselves.

Expect particular turbulence between March 4 and March 11, with a Virgo Full Moon at 14 degrees on March 5.

Relationship-related planets Venus and Mars are breaking new trail in feisty, hot-blooded Aries. We've gotten a taste of the fresh relational territory within our grasp, and nothing can stand in our way now but ourselves.

Jupiter Rx in Leo forms a fiery trine to Uranus in Aries on March 3 (6:25 a.m. CST), and we are creating the new forms as we go. 

Love planet Venus in Aries will trine Jupiter Rx in Leo on March 4 before forming a conjunction to Uranus in Aries and a square to Pluto in Capricorn later that day. We're being propelled beyond the draining Piscean-era relational constructs and dynamics and re-positioned in relationships of all kinds for new-era success. But we have to be willing to fight for it. We have to be willing to settle for nothing less. We have to channel the warrior spirit here and stand up for ourselves in relation to others whenever necessary. Any turbulence experienced around the time of these Venus aspects is related to this process of endings and beginnings all rolled up in one. Stand back from any relational turbulence, allow the detritus to be spun off, and don't take it personally. Just keep moving toward the relationship dynamics you wish to experience.

Action and goal-related planet Mars follows Venus into the same aspects on March 10/11. Mars in Aries will trine Jupiter Rx in Leo early on March 10 (12:04 a.m.), providing a burst of energy and motion. If you're pissed off, use that anger as fuel to move you out of the same old crappy dynamics, beyond their reach.

Mars will then rub up against the Uranus-Pluto square, forming a conjunction to Uranus and a square to Pluto on March 11, and this could create some friction. Changes in direction, desires, and goals can be expected around this time.

Communication planet Mercury leaves its retrograde shadow at 17 degrees Aquarius on March 3, as well. Expect the messages of the Mercury retrograde period to become clearer now. Final bits of information and perspective about the way forward from here are coming together during the first days of March.

The extended stay of Mercury in Aquarius, disposited by Uranus in Aries, has been a bit intense. Mercury will move into the slippery sign of its detriment, Pisces, on March 12 (9:52 p.m.), and I have a feeling that even the confusion and brain fog associated with Mercury in Pisces may be welcome as a reprieve from highly-cerebral Aquarius. Mercury in Pisces certainly softens the edges a bit, if nothing else.

With Saturn stationing retrograde in Sagittarius, remember: Breathe. Meditate. Be philosophical about it all. Allow the mystery and magic of the big picture to take over. Step aside. Sit it out. Allow the intensity and hub-bub to pass you by whenever necessary. There is wisdom in slowing down and in allowing nature and the universe to take care of themselves.

Avoiding the Seven-Year Itch at Willow's Web Astrology Blog

Today is the seven-year anniversary of the first Willow's Web Astrology blog post, which hit the astro blogosphere with a bang on February 25, 2008.

I was living in oil-rich, gentrified-and-cleansed Calgary, Alberta at the time, working at a magical import art store called Art of My Heart. Art of My Heart was, unfortunately, bulldozed over by the Pluto in Capricorn steamroller in early 2009. And then I got poisoned by Cipro. But for a tiny window of time there during which WWA blog was spawned, things were pretty A-OK in Willow's world!

Now I'm back where I came from, living in the rural area where I grew up. I'm still in oil country (with the oil flares to prove it! sigh), but I'm also right where I need to be to continue reporting on the critical (and buried) issues of the times. I live in the primary uranium-producing province in all of North America. I'm in the middle of the Bakken oilfield. I'm surrounded by chemical-intensive genetically modified agriculture (but also plenty of great gardeners and greenhouse growers, as well). The politics here run right-wing conservative and Old Boys' Club. The relationships run to the "traditional gender roles/family units that don't really work for anyone at this point." There's plenty of work to do, plenty of work to do.

So my baby is seven years old today, no longer a baby at all.

Wow, time sure flies when humanity is on the brink of annihilation, doesn't it?

Thank-you for your support of Willow's Web Astrology over the years via comments, emails, and patronages. If I didn't know that these energy-intensive articles were hitting the mark, I doubt I would have had the confidence to continue writing and pouring my heart and soul into them. So thank-you for letting me know.

To the whiners, the complainers, and the overly-entitled sorts who think they have a say in what goes on here, as always, I thumb my nose in your general direction and will continue to do so as long as this blog is operational. *eye bat, eye bat*

I will continue to write some content that is free for the general public and some that is available in its entirety only to patrons and paying customers. There will likely be fewer articles than in the past, but the articles that do appear will be substantial, as usual.

I don't ask anyone else to work for free, so please don't ask or expect me to. Astrological analysis and writing are work. They're hard work. And I deserve fair and basic compensation for the work that I do and for the assistance and guidance I provide in these times.

If you don't believe I deserve fair and basic compensation for the work that I do, you are no friend to Willow's Web Astrology, and I would ask that you hitch your wagon to another astrologer instead. There are plenty out there.

I have to say, I've perused the Solar Return chart for the blog for this year, and I like it. I like it a lot. There will be some intense challenges, of course, but lots of good stuff going on, too. Sun conjunct Neptune in Pisces. Venus-Mars in Aries trine Saturn in Sagittarius. Moon in Gemini trine Mercury in Aquarius trine the North Node in Libra. Ceres and Pluto bringing their hardcore power together with a conjunction in Capricorn.

All in all, this baby has the fire to go another year for sure and maybe even another seven, who knows?

(We really can't plan too far ahead with Fukushima spewing into its 4th year, now, can we?)

This blog has been a lifesaver for me over these past seven years - not least of which because it has provided me a way to survive financially through utter Big Pharma-induced health devastation. This blog has allowed me to improve and utilize my skills, and it has brought me into contact with like-minded people from all around the globe, something I very, very rarely find in my day-to-day life. For that, I am forever grateful.

Happy Seventh Birthday, Willow's Web Astrology blog! Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you. Here's to many more to come.

Saturn Retrograde Sets its Steely Gaze on Late Scorpio: the Final Resolution of Old Heartbreaks, Hurts, and Unfinished Business

The planet of karmic challenges, Saturn, is currently slowing to station retrograde in Sagittarius, and the squeeze is on during the last days of February and first three weeks of March.

Saturn will station at 4 degrees Sagittarius on March 14 (9:02 a.m. CST) for a retrograde period that lasts until August 2, 2015.

With Saturn stationing retrograde, we may experience increased feelings of frustration or restriction. Our forward progress, previously inspiring to us, may now feel stymied or slowed. Our responsibilities may be weighing heavily upon us, and our fears could be grinding at us a little. We may feel just plain tired and old. We may experience some setbacks, being pulled back into territory we thought we had already progressed beyond, and this can be demoralizing and depressing. The expansion we were working toward is not quite here yet.

These effects can be expected - off and on - from late February through the first three weeks of March.

The Saturn retrograde also occurs during the seventh and final exact square between Uranus in Aries and Pluto in Capricorn (March 16 at 8:54 p.m.). This adds to the intensity, potentially increasing the fear/anxiety/frustration/arghhhhh of the Saturn station.


This is an excerpt from the article, "Saturn Retrograde Sets its Steely Gaze on Late Scorpio: the Final Resolution of Old Heartbreaks, Hurts, and Unfinished Business." It is available in its entirety to Willow's Web Astrology patrons, or it can be purchased for $6.50 by PayPal or email money transfer.

Please note: I send these articles out myself, so there may be a short delay before you receive your article. This is especially the case over a weekend. Sorry for any inconvenience. 

"Pisces For the Aquarian Era" and More Post-Pisces Clearance on the Love Front

 Pisces Season. Sleepy. Shh.

Photo: Willow

We are now moving into a 29-degree Aquarius New Moon on February 18 (5:47 p.m. CST) - the bookend New Moon to the zero-degree Aquarius New Moon we experienced January 20.

New Moons indicate new cycles opening and something fresh about to unfold, especially related to emotions and emotional patterns. With bookend New Moons in Aquarius, we are developing and securing an emotional anchor that will carry us through the turbulence and into the new astrological era.

Now, according to my data, this February 18 New Moon occurs on the very last breath of Aquarius, at the very last possible moment of the sign. Other people are calling this a zero-degree Pisces New Moon.

To me, it doesn't really matter all that much. We are in a major "change of eras" transition and a major clearing of the emotional slate as we move through the first months of 2015. It's a little messy, a little confusing, but a lot exhilarating. And it likely isn't necessary to quibble over the details.

What we can be sure of is that this New Moon keeps those "change of era" themes rolling.

From now through the 29-degree Aquarius New Moon, both relationship-related planets, Venus and Mars, are traveling through oh-so-karmic late Pisces. It requires nothing less than Uranian dynamite charges to break up and change the dynamics and patterns held here. Lucky for us, Uranus is in very strong and influential position at the moment. You can read more about the effects of the strong Uranus energy during the first months of 2015 in this post: "Powerfully-Positioned Uranus in Aries Leads the Charge Through Aquarius Season."

As we move into Pisces season 2015 (February 18 - March 20), we're making the final transition into a new expression for the sign of Pisces - Pisces for the astrological Aquarian era. This is true for all 12 of the zodiac signs. The way we express them in the new era is different, and we are tasked with experimenting and figuring out what will be successful in every passing moment. Challenging!

But Pisces may just be the trickiest sign to transition, caught as it is so often in the attachment to old-era love ideals, dreams, and illusions. The cycles of bliss then torment, hope then despair. And repeat. And repeat. And repeat.

The 29-degree New Moon in Aquarius propels us into a highly-potent Pisces season. But it is a Pisces season coloured by necessary change from start to finish. We are tasked with transitioning the expression of the sign of Pisces over the next lunar month (and beyond), and this particularly involves hopes, dreams, relationships, and ideals of love.

During the astrological Piscean era, we learned such nuggets of wisdom as: Love hurts. Love scars. Love wounds. You have to suffer for love. The more you suffer, the deeper your love. If it doesn't torment and mistreat you, it isn't real love.

Well, sorry, Roy Orbison, but your beautiful song has now passed into the classics, a song for an old era. (I'm sure you would be glad to hear that, anyway.)

Pisces is known for the heroic lengths it will go to in order to long and pine and sigh and hurt and torture itself over ideas and ideals of love and over the projected object of its affection.

Old school Pisces wants complete immersion in love and in a loved one. Always. And forever. It wants to be wrapped up in a cocoon of unending love, adoration, and support from the universe and from other people. It wants to do a continual backstroke in the auric field of the one it desires. Blissful communion and spiritual ecstasy with nothing reality-based that might burst its bubble. 

But we're moving on from that as the dominant ideal for love. Those things exist in love, certainly, but they are no longer the singular ideal for which we are holding out.

That old school love ideal ain't coming back (thank goodness), and those who are wasting time waiting on it will be moved into the new era via Uranian shocks to the system, like it or not. 

There is no time, no energy, no inclination left to torture ourselves over anyone else or over any outdated ideals for love.

If you haven't noticed by now, it isn't actually about that individual. It's about figuring out the energy and the dynamics that are stirred by that individual, outsmarting them, and then moving through them until you're free.

Under the astrological Aquarian era, Pisces loves freely, just as it always did. But Pisces must also ensure that loving someone does not drag it into the same old traps. The pure and open-hearted love given so generously by Pisces must be applied a little more intelligently, with a little more discernment, with a bit higher standards.

Pisces loves as openly and fully and divinely as it ever did under the astrological Aquarian era, but it does so without preconceived expectations about what that will mean or what that will bring in return.

The intent behind the love has to be cleared.

We do not love to obligate others to us. We do not love only so that we can receive love in return. We do not love only to help or heal or prop others up. We do not love because we feel guilty or beholden or sorry for someone. We do not love simply so that we don't have to move forward.

Under the current scene, if it hurts, it isn't love. If it hurts, it's an old Neptunian trick you have to figure out, an old Piscean-era construct, a mirage you need to move through.

Or on the other hand, if it hurts, it may be a point of too-extreme detachment, too much cold Aquarius, too hard an angle. Going too far into the Aquarian extreme can be just as painful, requiring the correct application of Piscean love to bridge the gap. Pisces is the sign of union, remember, the last sign of the zodiac, the sign that brings it all together.

So on the Piscean end of things, if it hurts, you need to let it go. You need to detach from it. You need to re-formulate, distract yourself, propel yourself beyond it.

But on the Aquarian end of things, if it hurts, you need to make the loving connection, build the bridge, bring it back to love, bring it back to union and communion. You need to hold space for the love that fills the cracks and makes us whole again.

With the transiting North Node of the Moon in Libra into November 2015, maintaining the right Aquarius-Pisces balance, particularly in relationships, is key.

We have one last week with Venus and Mars in Pisces stirring the old-era dynamics, and then something shifts.

Mars enters Aries February 19, and Venus enters Aries February 20. They form a conjunction at 1-degree Aries on February 21 (11:13 p.m.) that kicks off a fresh new direction in relationships, love, sex, values, money matters, and personal goals. This is a "first day of spring" vibe coming into our interpersonal relations, a major propulsion into new territory. Ride the wave. Fight for it, even.

From their conjunction February 21, Venus and Mars will continue through Aries and trigger the Uranus-Pluto square. Venus forms a conjunction to Uranus in Aries and a square to Pluto in Capricorn March 4. Mars follows suit March 11.

Honestly, anything could happen this March with the final Uranus-Pluto square at 15 Aries/Capricorn on March 16 and a New Moon total solar eclipse on 29 degrees Pisces, the last degree of the zodiac, on March 20. There is a definite shake-up and re-positioning in relationships and money matters this March, and it is all-encompassing. Our personal directions and goals could change - and then change again - on a dime. We're moving through very unstable and changeable energy this March. Don't fight it. Just go with it as cheerfully as possible.

If anything descends on your heart like a wet paper bag this Pisces season, fight your way out of it. It's just a wet paper bag. It's easy to break free from - as long as you're willing to try.

Don't roll over and play dead. Don't weep about the hopelessness of the situation. At least, don't indulge in those things for long.

Strong-arm that motherfucker. Show this dead-end Pisces energy you mean business. Grab it by the short and curlies, show it who's boss, and then show it the door. This will be easier once Venus and Mars form their conjunction at 1 degree Aries on February 21.

The Piscean era is over - if we make it so.

So let's make it so.

Laugh at the silly little Neptune tricks. Don't allow them to take you down. Don't allow them to erode your self-confidence or sense of well-being.

Communication planet Mercury is now direct (as of February 11) in early Aquarius. As I wrote about previously, there are some cautions related to this extended Mercurial stay in Aquarius, especially with the potency of dispositor Uranus in Aries right now:

"[Mercury in Aquarius] will bring us information, insight, and perspective about the way forward from here. We will be wrapping our minds around the changes we have been through, the changes we are experiencing now, and the changes that are yet to come. We are being informed of the new blueprints - and of last-minute changes to those new blueprints. It is a challenge to stay up-to-date with everything that is unfolding...

The perspective and new ideas we come to through this Mercury retrograde are quite vast and long-reaching. We may be able to see years, decades, or even centuries down the road. Mercury will transit Aquarius until March 11, so we have an extended period of time to mentally integrate the continually-unfolding scenarios. 

But Mercury in Aquarius disposited by Uranus in Aries in its current position indicates a definite possibility of mental circuitry overload, and this possibility is also extended into early March. There is some mental burnout possible...

Shut off the damn cell phones! Shut off the computer for a while. Stay off social media for a couple days - or more.

Limiting technology time is one way to protect our tired synapses, especially in the days surrounding the Mercury stations.

We have to apply our own versions of "surge protectors" to our brains and nervous systems over the next three months in order to counteract the intense Uranian charge. We can only stay wired for so long until it starts to have adverse effects.

Uranus is conjunct the South Node in Aries, which means we have to balance that erratic and at times overwhelming charge via the Libra North Node. Keeping our balance while maintaining a sense of peace amidst any turmoil and upheaval is our soul-level challenge now. This is our path to success."

Happy Pisces Season, all!

Another "Valentine's Day for the Aquarian Age" Piece From the Vault

As an addition to the previous post on celebrating the love for our friends this Valentine's Day, you can listen to me and Matt Savinar bantering away about love and relationship, Aquarian era-style, on his radio show at the link below. This show was originally aired in February 2013:

Willow and Matt Savinar on the North Bay Astrology Show

 

I'm grateful to call Matt Savinar a friend and colleague, and I'm grateful for all the wonderful, whip-smart people I've come into contact with via this blog over the years. Finding you like-minded souls has helped keep me sane through these wild-ass times on Planet Earth. 

Please note that this show was done under Jupiter in Gemini square Neptune in Pisces, so it is admittedly a little meander-y. If you like me and Matt as astrologers, you might think it's cool. If you don't like me and Matt as astrologers, why are you even reading this? heh

Communication planet Mercury is currently stationing and will go direct at 1 degree Aquarius on February 11 (8:57 a.m. CST). This Mercury retrograde has been a little tough on the Scorp brain, so I'm just riding it out. Things will be rolling again soon, though, and I'm currently working on a juicy article that will be presented a little later.

Happy Juno Day, comrades! With Venus and Mars in Pisces, I hope the "new Pisces" love is flowing to you and through you.

Celebrating the Love for Our Friends this Valentine's Day

In honour of Mercury retrograde in Aquarius (and spurred by a suggestion from a treasured and timely colleague), I've updated an older post on Valentine's Day for the astrological Aquarian era. The themes still apply as we continue to adapt relationship rules and conventions for weird and wild Aquarius:

The Piscean era is over - if we choose to make it so. And the last layers of wounding Piscean-era thinking, particularly around love and relationship, are set to go now.

We can have the best of Pisces in relationship - the full and spiritual love, the delightful intermingling of auras, the compassion, the magic, the bliss, the romance, the sweetness. But we don't have to turn relationships into one-dimensional cardboard cut-outs by insisting in juvenile fashion that they be only those things. Or even primarily those things.

Pisces has a place in love and relationship in the astrological Aquarian era. A big place. But it isn't the only place, as it has been. It doesn't colour the ideals as heavily. It isn't the version of love placed atop a pedestal to worship.

Love and relationships are different in the astrological Aquarian era. That's all there is to it.

Under this umbrella, we're complete as we are. Self-contained. We don't need anyone to prop us up, to complete us, to add what we lack. That doesn't mean we don't need people or that we don't need love. It means that we aren't incomplete without it. We aren't damaged beyond all recovery by not having a personal love relationship.

We come together as two (or more) equal and self-contained units in Aquarius. We create the win-win by being ultra fabulous and skilled in what we bring to the partnership and by partnering with others who bring ultra fabulous skills to the table.

We don't fully immerse ourselves in the energetic forcefield of another. We don't lose ourselves or allow another to be lost in us. We don't join with people purely for healing purposes. We stand on our own and accept the healing that comes to us through love and relationship.

We don't pin expectations on anyone to fulfill our pink-tinged dreams of Hollywood romance and Happily Ever After. We make the Happily Ever After ourselves. We build it together one step at a time. And some of those steps are pretty fucking rough. Don't let that convince you that your relationships are anything less than the New Age's "twin flame" variety.

The personal relationship planets (Venus and Mars) are in dreamy Pisces this Valentine's Day with the Sun and Mercury in clear-minded Aquarius, and the transition of the eras is being translated through love, sex, desire, companionship, relationship, and friendship.

This Valentine's Day is a good time to fall fully and deeply in love with your friends, as well as with your lovers/mates.

Aquarius is a sign relating to friends, community, and like-minded individuals. Part of the shift into Aquarian-era relationship constructs involves the friend relationship coming into its full status. It has been relegated to second best for far too long. Friends have taken a lot of shit playing second fiddle to the ideal of the Glorious and Perfect Love Relationship, and this has been very painful at times.

Under the astrological Aquarian-era umbrella, our friendships are love relationships. We're in love with our friends.

Under Aquarian-era relationship rules, we can hold a space open, a new Aquarian space, for the high privilege of and deep gratitude for real friendship. Friendship can come into its full value.

And in the Age of Aquarius, we are not too weird for love. We are not too weird for relationships. There is a match for anyone who needs love.

As we exit the sometimes-torturous final years of the astrological Piscean era, we are not too damaged for love, either. We are not too damaged to love. There are people who are traumatized by the same things that traumatize us. They'll understand. They'll love you for all you've been through, just as you'll love them for it.

The conjunctions of relationship planets Venus and Mars to wounded healer Chiron in Pisces (Mars January 31; Venus February 7) remind us that we are all pretty much damaged by the way things are. We've been damaged by it, and we continue to be damaged by it. The astrological Aquarian era just democratizes the damage. We're egalitarian comrades, like it or not, in our inability to remain fully unscathed - physically, emotionally, mentally, psychologically, psychically, spiritually - by the current ways of doing things on this planet.

Honouring the love, companionship, and sanity that friends provide us (including friends who are lovers) is a beautiful way to spend this Valentine's Day.

Friendship is hot. Our friends are super cool hotties. This Valentine's Day, appreciate all the depth and the nuances of friend love.

Happy Valentine's Day, friends, from Willow's Web Astrology!

Powerfully-Positioned Uranus in Aries Leads the Charge Through Aquarius Season

We move through the zero-degree Aquarius New Moon portal on January 20 like a shot.

The velocity with which things are moving now and for the following three months is astounding - but we need all this velocity in order to break through.

We are changing the blueprints, changing the rules, and changing set patterns. These are patterns that have been continued for generations, for thousands of years in many cases, and we need the big, bold Uranian charge, as ruler of Aquarius, to both disrupt these patterns and to propel us forward into something new, beyond old traps and sticking points.

So you see, the disruption of the standard ways is necessary now, nothing to mourn or lament.

Things are busting loose on Planet Earth over the next three months, and there's no going back. If you've been following the true narrative on this planet, you'll realize we don't want to go back. We have nothing to go back to. Despite the temptations of nostalgia, there has never been a fully satisfactory time on this planet.

We have to keep moving. And move we will.

This Aquarius season is disposited (heavily influenced) by electric rabble rouser Uranus in Aries conjunct the South Node of the Moon and tightly square Pluto in Capricorn. Intense. Powerful. The moving of mountains.

Uranus forms an exact conjunction to the South Node in Aries on January 20 - on the day of the zero-degree Aquarius New Moon (occurring at 7:14 a.m. CST) - and this aspect produces the dominant themes for the following 28-day lunar cycle.

Uranus is also hurtling into the seventh and final Uranus-Pluto square, exact on March 16, 2015 - the first square in the series where both Uranus and Pluto will be moving direct.

We're spinning things off left and right as we move into new era energetics - in our selves, in our lives, in our relationships, in our families, businesses, societies, and institutions. There isn't one area of life that is left untouched by this final square aspect between the planet of revolution and the planet of transformation.

As the energetics change on the planet, there are requirements for new physical energy sources, as well.

Long-suppressed clean and renewable energy technologies will be forced to the surface as we officially hit the wall with old energy sources that are deadly, toxic, and unimaginably destructive to life on this planet.

Ceres in Capricorn Activates the Uranus-Pluto Square: the Purchasing Power of Mothers Can Change the World

There are also new-era requirements related to the fuel we use to energize our bodies - our food. Agriculture-related dwarf planet Ceres is currently transiting Capricorn and brings its themes into play as it forms a square to Uranus in Aries (February 12) and a conjunction to Pluto in Capricorn (February 15). This indicates an official push-coming-to-shove moment for food and the business of agriculture and food production. It indicates an acute period of time when individuals will have to take increased responsibility for the health and safety of the food they purchase and eat - because the structures as they exist have abnegated that responsibility in favour of profit (or even something more sinister...).

Ceres in Capricorn activating the Uranus-Pluto square indicates a time when individuals must get very serious about the food they are ingesting, as many food sources are being poisoned in invisible ways (via genetically modified organisms, chemical pesticides and herbicides, radioactive fallout, additives, colourants, preservatives, processing, and by other methods).

With Mars in Pisces conjunct wounded healer Chiron (exact January 31), food sensitivities and reactions will be on the rise. Bodies will be breaking down under the stress, and cleaner, healthier alternatives will have to be explored.

This activation by Earth Mama Ceres of the Uranus-Pluto (Uranium-Plutonium) square indicates a good time to eliminate the foods that are most likely to be contaminated by radioactive fallout from Fukushima and other sources. The major one there is food from the sea. 

This Ceres activation also provides an opportunity to break from corporate agriculture, sourcing food that is organic or farmed up to organic standards, including from local sources.

Stickers/bumper stickers - $5

At the same time, we must understand that all non-genetically modified and organic agriculture is under direct attack by the continued infiltration of GMOs and particularly by the introduction of genetically modified alfalfa, a foundation stone for non-GM and organic agriculture. I've written extensively about GM alfalfa in the past and continue my campaign to ban this untested, feral, perennial genetically modified crop. The continued spread of GM alfalfa could quite literally mean the end of most, if not all, organic and non-GM agriculture and food. Spring 2015 will be a critical point when all anti-GMO opponents must be vocal and engaged.

As Ceres moves into position, individuals will be taking on new sovereignty and responsibility related to the foods they ingest, no longer blindly leaving it up to supermarkets or restaurants.

Purchasing power is a major theme here, and it is the purchasing habits of mothers (Ceres), in particular, that have the greatest potential effect. Mothers generally make the decisions about the food for their families. In capitalist societies, change the way you spend your money, change the products you purchase, and you change the world.

As an example, Wiesenhof, the top poultry producer in Germany, recently stopped using GMO feed for its chickens due to increasing customer demand for non-GMO poultry and eggs.

"Wiesenhof’s decision is a direct result of pressure from the top German supermarkets. In late August the supermarkets, with a broad consensus, demanded the German Poultry Association (ZDG) to stop using GMO feed for both egg and poultry meat production, starting from January 1st 2015."

German customers demanded non-GMO poultry and eggs from the supermarkets, and the supermarkets, in turn, demanded that from the poultry and egg producers.

Hit them at their bottom line. Purchasing power talks - and gets things done - during the Pluto in Capricorn years. (It is just unfortunate that ethics, health, and common sense do not have more sway...) 

If you think it can't be done elsewhere, you're wrong. 

The demand for organic and non-GM foods produces new sources and new infrastructure for their access and distribution.

For example, after my repeated requests, my local grocery store is now carrying free run eggs and will order organic eggs in if there are enough purchasers. This is a very conservative and traditional area, strongly involved with oil and chemical-intensive and GM agriculture, and it is decidedly resistant to organics and to anything outside the conventional system. All it took was a progressive grocery store manager and one motivated customer (your anarchist astro-reporter) to turn the tide - even if just slightly - in this area.

It is small changes adding up that produce the momentum to turn the tide. And it all starts with one motivated individual. Uranus in Aries.

"I can't do anything about it, anyway," is not an excuse that will fly under these transits.

We are building the community and networks we need one individual at a time.

Some Extreme Uranian Energetics to Navigate

 

With Uranus in Aries so strong, things are wired. We're wired. We will have immense surges of energy running through our systems at various times over the next three months. Again, this is beneficial for propelling us into necessary new territory. These energy surges provide the strength, the motivation, and the forward propulsion we need to move out of the Piscean-era dead zones and toward a future that we actually want to live through on this planet.

But strong Uranus energy also has some cautions. Uranus has a tendency to run us, to overwhelm the circuitry - especially the mental circuitry and nervous system. Flashes of Uranian insight can be temporarily blinding, causing headaches, eye strain, or other issues. The extreme surges of energy can be exhausting to our biological systems. In short, intense Uranus energy can just be too much.

With Saturn sitting on the early degrees of Sagittarius, there is wisdom in standing still, in allowing the rush of super-charged motion and events and energy to just pass us by. There is wisdom in meditation and in nature. There is wisdom in focusing only on the things that are most personally meaningful to us, sloughing off all else.

Just as we hurtle through the zero-degree Aquarius New Moon portal on January 20, communication and transportation planet Mercury comes to a standstill in the sign, stationing retrograde January 21 (9:54 a.m.).

Are we moving forward, or are we reviewing?

Both.

There is a bit of a stop-and-start effect as we move through this lunar cycle.

The Mercury retrograde period (January 21 to February 11 from 17 to 1 degrees Aquarius) will bring us information, insight, and perspective about the way forward from here. We will be wrapping our minds around the changes we have been through, the changes we are experiencing now, and the changes that are yet to come. We are being informed of the new blueprints - and of last-minute changes to those new blueprints. It is a challenge to stay up-to-date and up-to-speed with everything that is unfolding, and the Mercury retrograde in Aquarius assists us in that pursuit by slowing things down and going back over some things we may have missed the first time.

The perspective and new ideas we come to through this Mercury retrograde are quite vast and long-reaching. We may be able to see years, decades, or even centuries down the road. Mercury will transit Aquarius until March 11, so we have an extended period of time to mentally integrate the continually-unfolding scenarios. 

But Mercury in Aquarius disposited by Uranus in Aries in its current position indicates a definite possibility of mental circuitry overload, and this possibility is also extended into early March. There is some mental burnout possible, especially if we continue to push for information or connection as we move through the January 21 Mercury retrograde station or the February 11 direct station.

Shut off the damn cell phones! Shut off the computer for a while. Stay off social media for a couple days - or more.

Limiting technology time is one way to protect our tired synapses, especially in the days surrounding the Mercury stations.

We have to apply our own versions of "surge protectors" to our brains and nervous systems over the next three months in order to counteract the intense Uranian charge. We can only stay wired for so long until it starts to have adverse effects.

Uranus is conjunct the South Node in Aries, which means we have to balance that erratic and at times overwhelming charge via the Libra North Node. Keeping our balance while maintaining a sense of peace amidst any turmoil and upheaval is our soul-level challenge now. This is our path to success.

Also watch your anger. There is plenty to be angry about on this planet, and we are made even more aware of this as Uranus pushes into the final square to Pluto in Capricorn. Corruption abounds. A sickening lack of responsibility, legitimacy, and humanity abounds in positions of power. But with Uranus in Aries conjunct the South Node, our anger tends to go to detrimental extremes. It snowballs. It goes nuclear. There are too many individual incidents about which to be angry.

As we are working to balance our systems (Libra North Node), protecting ourselves from overload and exhaustion, we must be careful to avoid enraging trigger subjects that serve only to waste our time and energy.

Is it worth getting pissed about? Do you really care that much, or are you allowing something or someone to get under your skin? Is it productive anger, or is it anger that is being stirred without a viable outlet?

The stirring of anger in the populace (via the exposure of various enraging events involving lies, manipulation, violence, destruction, and corruption from the power structures) will be used as a tactic over the next three months. If the powers-that-be (and their controlled opposition agents) are in control of our anger, they can misdirect it, exhaust it, dissipate it, and squander its potential to create real and necessary change.

Anger is a powerful motivating force, and it is a force that, if applied correctly, gets things done in a way that no other emotion can. Don't allow your anger-fuel to be manipulated. Make sure you are applying it practically and toward just the right ends. Don't get caught up in the details. We're penetrating the roots here, the real, systemic causes of our righteous rage. Keep the big picture battle in mind, and don't exhaust yourself each step of the way.

What is Mercury Retrograde?