A Change in Our Regularly Scheduled Astro Programming...

I just want to give a head's up about some changes going on with this blog. As with everything these days, the structure of this blog is morphing, and I don't know 100% what the form is going to take. I have to just go with it!

Due to the owner having a stroke at my paid job in December, I've stepped into a lot more responsibility (and hours!) at the store. This has left me with less energy to devote to my unpaid work - this blog.

I'm definitely going to continue posting here, but for now circumstances are not allowing me to write my usual in-depth monthly Astro Perspectives. This is a bummer because I like writing them, but they take a great deal of energy and focus...and I'm pretty tapped out right now.

It's all very fitting for these astrological times. Pluto in Capricorn transforming our work structures and making sure the feminine is brought in as a full equal. Saturn in Virgo ruling Pluto in Cap...so we're only able to do what is absolutely necessary and have to be very precise about where and how we apply our energies. Saturn heading to its second opposition with Uranus in Pisces Feb. 5 - dissolution of structures past that have outlived their usefulness.

But there is definite confusion (Pisces) about the way forward in the midst of these structural changes. We sort of have to feel it out day-by-day and make decisions based on the knowledge we have at the time. As always, evolutionary imperative (Pluto) trumps what we personally want at times...until we later understand that the evolutionary imperative IS what we want.

I'm having a hard time giving up the structure here. I want to continue writing the Astro Perspectives the same way I have in the past, but I know I can't. My wrists gave out in December, and now I have to listen carefully or suffer the consequences.

I also have a feeling my umbrella website willowsweb.net is no longer. I've been waffling about whether to continue paying for that site when this blog is free. Now there has been some confusion with the bill (I didn't update my now-defunct old e-mail address), and they have suspended the site. If I don't make a move, it will be gone. Another sad sort of thing, but it's really not necessary at this point. And it costs me money. haha

So NOTE: please bookmark this blog site if you usually find your way here through my main website willowsweb.net

Anyway, as far as the astro news of February...here's a rundown:

Mercury goes direct in Capricorn just after midnight MST February 1 after an arduous retrograde. We're back at the degree of Capricorn we were at at Christmas, so we're going back over the things that have happened since then with newly integrated information. I was visiting the owner of Art of My Heart in the hospital on Dec. 25, two days after he had his stroke, wondering what the hell was going to happen with him and with the store...so makes sense.

Mercury clears its retrograde shadow Feb. 20, so that's when we get into completely new territory as far as what we're talking about, thinking about and interacting with day-to-day.

Mercury is retracing its steps in Capricorn until Valentine's Day, so we're talking/thinking about the strategic moves and changes we're dealing with in our structures. It's still weighty work we're dealing with. Intricate manoevres and positioning. Our interactions (converstaions, e-mails, etc.) making step-by-step progress, especially related to business/career. Wrapping our heads around the changes we are bringing about and integrating information related to the structures that are collapsing all around us (Pluto in Capricorn).

When Mercury hits Aquarius February 14, our minds align with the vision for the way forward. You know that vision of how you want your life to be? And how you want the planet to be? What you want for humanity and all the creatures of Earth? That's what we start focussing on now.

Probably a lot of Obama media interaction starting now. The old guard (Capricorn) is fading from memory (not really...how can we forget the horrors of Bush, continuing to this day??) and we're very focussed on creating a new reality. (I would argue Obama is still old guard...but he really does know how to work that "Aquarian vision for a better future" stuff...)

There's a stellium of planets in Aquarius this month - the Sun, Mars (enters on the 4th), Jupiter, Chiron and Neptune along with the North Node and Mercury entering Feb. 14. So we're absolutely infused with the energy of that vision. We can step out of old structures now with ease because we've gotten a taste of where we're going, and it's deeeeelicious! A little sad to say goodbye to the old, yes. But once we have, there is no looking back!

Yes, it's all around us this February. The fresh new Aquarian air breezing through stale old corridors. Electrifying and energizing change. Unexpected events propelling us forward. A new understanding of equality, humanity and our responsibility to the planet. It's all coming.

And not just around the edges, either. Anything or anyone promoting themselves as something new when they're really just the old dressed up as new will falter. This energy is so far beyond the lame ass little games. It/we won't play along.

I have to think about Michael Ignatieff as the "new" head of the Liberals in Canada. If ever there was an old guard elitist playing the same old hierarchical games...blech! There is nothing new about this man as a supposed leader.

But with the (sometimes extreme) ability Aquarius has to detach, we will be able to clearly differentiate between what is really aligned with the new force propelling us into a better humanity/Planet Earth and what is simply wolf in sheep's clothing old guard clinging desperately to collapsing power structures by co-opting the fresh new vibe. With Virgoan practise, the old guard masquerading as new becomes ridiculously easy to spot and disengage from, no matter how sneaky they try to be. Kind of like if your grandpa decided to dress up emo. You know right off something in the milk ain't clean.

It should become very clear to anyone interested in making the differentiations for themselves. And this is how we successfully use the Saturn in Virgo energies - clearly identifying the new ways/new energies and interacting in that way while disengaging from all that is old and dead. With all this Aquarius, we will be looking at everything with an airy, intellecutally detached objectivity which will help us greatly as we navigate this month.

Independence is a big key word for Aquarius. So this month should be a time when people are fairly easily able to shift into taking full responsibility for themselves and their lives. Holding no superiour, living without outside forces telling them what to do and how to think. Giving up any remaining saviour/martyr stuff.

For anyone still operating within the old structures and finding he or she has come to the end of the road...that the situation has become personally intolerable...this will be a time when they can make the leap more easily. The buoyance of the Aquarian force propelling us will make what seemed like a gaping chasm into just a crack in the sidewalk to be stepped over. It's all waiting for anyone who chooses to discontinue in the old structures under the old guard.

We experience the second of four oppositions of Saturn in Virgo and Uranus in Pisces on February 5. (They will also oppose each other once in Aries-Libra.) This time Saturn is going retrograde, so my feeling is the structural adjustments are going to be focussed internally to a large extent.

From a previous post: "Saturn in Virgo just started a 4.5 month retrograde on December 31. So we're going back over the structural adjustments we need to make, and now we make the changes internally as much as externally. By mid-May, the internal recalibration will be complete, and we will be able to see the reflection of the changes very clearly in our external structures as Saturn moves direct."

The Sun enters Pisces February 18, and things could get nostaligic. Pisces is the last sign of the zodiac and we're at the very last days of the Piscean Age. Things that need to be wrapped up and cleared should come up now. Weepiness caused by overwhelming feelings of love and loss. Grief about what we are saying goodbye to. We carry grief in our lungs/chests, so we have to be vigilant about trying to clear that or we could have some lung problems. If we're sad, we have to be sad and process it out of our systems...rather than bottling it up and holding it. That's what causes problems. The thing about Pisces is that it is a sign relating to sometimes nebulous spiritual experiences. Feeling pain and loss for the collective as much as for ourselves. So it's very likely there won't be a specific reason we are feeling sad, weepy or overwhelmed. It will just be "everything." Or there could be a seemingly small trigger event that opens the floodgates. Don't try to explain yourself. Just feel what you're feeling. Go as deep as it is. It's all par for the Piscean course...and it's all processing its way out. We don't have to carry collective pain or loss around with us like an albatross anymore. That time has passed.

One more very interesting thing I would like to touch on this month, and then I'll call it a day. Venus heads into its retrograde shadow February 1 at 29 degrees Pisces. This is very symbolic as it is the last degree of the last sign of the zodiac before we begin the cycle anew with Aries! Yes, we really are at the tail, tail-end of Pisces right now...and here is some love from Venus to help us wrap things up beautifully. To send the Piscean Age off with gratitude and unconditional love, a little teary-eyed, but much the wiser for having experienced it. To thank all the people and situations that have helped us thus far on our way. To honour them and keep them in our hearts, even though our time with some of them has passed. Venus on this degree of Pisces will help us understand that we are always connected to those we love. Neither death, time nor distance can separate. This understanding will help us immensely as we go on our way into the Aquarian paradigm...

February 2, Venus goes into Aries (again, in its retrograde shadow), and we have a fiery infusion of new energy in our relationships...possibly new relationships burgeoning now. Focus on the balance between me and we. "Fresh start" energy will infuse relationships now, and we should see new dimensions in people's identities within our relationships. New displays of personal will and individual direction that could be surprising.

Venus will go retrograde March 5 at 15 degrees Aries. It will then retrace its steps all the way back to 29 Pisces. This is the degree of the station (where Venus appears to turn around to go forward again), so we spend a good while with this degree - from April 11 to 23.

So watch what is coming up in your life, especially related to relationships, values and self-worth, around Feb. 1/2 because these themes will be revisited for one final completion in April. Completion on the completion degree of the zodiac!

Whew! That wasn't so bad. I was so nervous about changing the format here, but now that I've done it, I see it's the only move to make. :)

Happy February, all!