Monday, May 26, 2014

Derivatives Schemes Shift from Grain to Cattle, Stock Market Speculation Drives Meat Prices Up Worldwide

The fix is in in cattle markets worldwide.

The ethically-corrupt deregulated derivatives schemes have shifted from grain to cattle.

Cattle prices have almost doubled in 2014, and we can expect prices to continue to rise - for a time, anyway. This will create higher beef prices in grocery stores.

After more than a decade of artificially-depressed cattle prices (via trumped-up reports of BSE or "mad cow disease"), that market was prime territory for parasitic derivatives action.

The Western Producer is reporting that meat prices are rising worldwide.

The only way meat prices would be rising all around the world at the very same time is through stock market speculation and derivatives trading. This is not related (at least not primarily) to supply and demand. Rather, it is the manipulated perception of supply and demand fueling speculation.

This same stock market speculation and derivatives trading have created spikes in grain prices worldwide since 2008, which in turn caused the starvation of hundreds of millions more people around the world who could no longer afford dietary staples.

From August 8, 2010: Ceres Direct in Sagittarius on Its Way to Pluto in Capricorn and Benefiting Financially From the Starvation of the People

"One of the things coming to light under this transit is how food has become part of the derivatives scheme, creating a massive speculation bubble based on wild gambling on agricultural commodities prices. In 2008, this speculation drove food prices up (wheat by 80 percent, maize by 90 percent, rice by 320 percent) driving 200 million more people into starvation.

Finance schmucks are gambling on the price of food rising which fuels rabid speculation. And as their money games and various manipulations cause food prices to rise unnaturally, people around the world starve, suffer horribly, watch their children and loved ones withering and dying - all to keep the scam going and the bucks rolling after the mortgage scheme crashed and burned...

A lot of things have been blamed for the rising cost of food - fuel costs, supply problems, overpopulation, cash crops, diverting food crops to create ethanol. These all contribute.

But a major factor, probably the major factor, not often mentioned is the derivatives scheme on food and resulting price jumps. It was really this that spiked prices to the point that 200 million more people could not afford to fill their stomachs. This was the basis for the 2008 food riots in 30 countries. Haiti, Mexico, Egypt, Bangladesh, Mozambique...

When Haitians were eating biscuits made from clay and lard to stop their gnawing hunger, they had these speculators, their clients and the people who allowed (and continue to allow) the deregulation of the financial system to thank...

Friday, May 23, 2014

Mars Direct in Libra Re-Activates the Cardinal Points

A somewhat less hog-tied Mars, direct in Libra as of May 19, is now moving back through the loaded territory of the April 20 - 23 cardinal Grand Cross configuration.

We have officially hit the wall on certain fronts. Things are no longer business as usual. New directions are being demanded in light of the circumstances. We will not be continuing in certain directions or with certain people, and this becomes very clear and very final as Mars picks up speed direct into a square to Pluto in Capricorn. The Mars-Pluto square is exact on June 14 at 6:44 a.m. CST, but the tension and friction are strongly in effect from now into late June.

Combustible territory.

There is a definite edge to human relations now. This will be alleviated somewhat by Venus moving out of Aries and into Taurus on May 28, but the martial edginess does continue through the end of June.


This is an excerpt from the article "Mars Direct in Libra Re-Activates the Cardinal Points." It is available in its entirety to Willow's Web Astrology patrons, or it can be purchased by non-patrons through PayPal for $5

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

If You Are Still Eating Pacific Ocean Seafood, Now is the Time to Stop

Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) is now dumping the radioactively-contaminated water it has been storing directly into the Pacific Ocean, and it will be doing so on a weekly basis.

Tepco's stop-gap, half-assed solution to the ongoing triple nuclear meltdowns/melt-throughs was to douse the reactors with sea water in an effort to cool the reactions. This was the only stop-gap, half-assed solution employed despite not knowing if the nuclear fuel was even in the reactor containments or if it had seeped into the ground below. 


The radioactively-contaminated water from the cooling process was then stored in metal containment vessels on site, which have been leaking since early on.

In August 2013, Tepco announced via mainstream media that an estimated 400 tons of radioactively-contaminated water were leaking out of the containment vessels, into the groundwater, and then out to sea every single day. Their highly scientific guess on when this started happening was sometime between December 2011 and May of 2012.

Now, Tepco has decided to say, "Screw it! We're just going to dump this contaminated water directly into the ocean."

Tepco and the Japanese government are committing crimes against humanity and against life on this planet as the rest of the world governments sit back and watch. This is Global Government complicity in nuclear war against life on the planet. It's Global Government complicity in nuclear war against you and everyone and everything you love. 


The mainstream media has the public believing that Fukushima is over or that it is under control.

It has never been under control. 


The nuclear crisis at Fukushima, Japan is an ongoing global emergency. It has been a global emergency since March 11, 2011.

From a February 17, 2014 post:

"Three years ago, we heard that an earthquake triggered a tsunami, which washed over the Daiichi nuclear reactors at Fukushima, Japan.

This caused explosions at Units 1 and 3. The explosion at Unit 3, complete with mushroom cloud, likely aerosolized a large amount of Plutonium, which was released as miniscule particles into the atmosphere, along with Cesium, Uranium, Strontium, Tritium, Neptunium and many other radioactive isotopes. That initial release of radioactivity came down in precipitation all along the West Coast of Canada and the United States. It has continued to come down in precipitation all over the northern hemisphere ever since.

Contrary to media reports that the "radioactive plumes" are just now reaching the coastline, radioactive contamination from Fukushima has been found all along the West Coast of Canada and the United States since early spring 2011. It has been here, showing up via ocean currents and air currents, since early spring 2011, and it has not stopped coming in the three years hence. It will not stop coming until the reactions have been contained and until contaminated water is no longer being released into the Pacific.

For three years now, night-and-day with no cessation, nuclear reactor Units 1 through 3 have been in meltdown, releasing radioactivity into the atmosphere, into the ground, and into the Pacific Ocean. You can literally see the reactions underway on the footage streamed from cameras trained on the reactors. They are glowing, flashing, reacting. Things are not under control. Not even close."

We are being lied to by every mainstream news outlet and by every establishment academic or scientist put forth as an expert on this issue. 

The media is assuring the public that the amount of radioactivity being released by Tepco is no big deal, that it is within the guidelines of the World Health Organization, a complicit agency of the Global Government.

The truth is, there is no safe level of radioactivity. Ingesting one hot particle via food, water, or air could mean serious illness or death. Contrary to what we are being told through mainstream media by establishment-paid scientists, low dose radioactivity is highly dangerous to living things. Our bodies are not designed to withstand constant doses of radioactivity, no matter how "low" the levels.

Sea stars are dissolving into goo all along the West Coast of Canada and the United States. Seals have been showing up with open sores, hair loss, lethargy, crumbling livers, and enlarged hearts since the summer of 2011. Fish and kelp have tested positive for radioactive isotopes from Fukushima since early on. Eight times the usual number of dolphins are washing up dead along the East Coast of the U.S. Sea lions are showing up sick, convulsing. There are mass fish kills going on all over the world. Sardines are disappearing along the West Coast. Pelicans, which feed on sardines, have been starving since 2011. Toxic algae blooms are showing up, indicating a pH imbalance in the water. Manatees are dying en masse around Florida. Abalones and sea urchins are dying off the coast of California. West Coast owls have been dying of acute hemorrhaging since winter 2011. Dead sea creatures litter 98% of the ocean floor along the California coastline. Previously, 1% of the ocean floor was covered, and the increase began in 2011.

There is no doubt among reasonable and informed people that the nuclear disaster and contamination - on top of all the other radioactive contamination and other ocean contaminants - are killing life in the Pacific Ocean. The Pacific Ocean ecosystem is collapsing, with nuclear contamination from Fukushima acting as the tipping point.

But all you will see in mainstream media are "baffled," "perplexed," and "stumped" scientists and academics, spouting nonsense about "mystery illnesses" and "mystery diseases" affecting the animals. 

Some fucking mystery.

If you are still consuming Pacific Ocean seafood, now is the time to stop.


All Willow's Web Astrology articles on the Fukushima nuclear crisis
Secret Nuclear Waste - the Dark Side of Humanity 

Saturday, May 17, 2014

A Grand Water Trine Kicking Up More than Just Easy-Good Vibes

We have a Grand Water Trine configuration currently underway with Jupiter in Cancer, Saturn retrograde in Scorpio, and Chiron in Pisces. This configuration makes things quite sensitive and over-the-top emotionally through the end of the month.

The true calculation of Black Moon Lilith is also back in Cancer at the moment, closely conjunct Jupiter, so there is a distinct edge to this usually easy-breezy Grand Trine. The healing potential is directly related to our willingness to work with the toughest of emotions. This is where the wisdom lies, too.

The tough emotional themes include the harsh, hellish, and denied sides of motherhood and care-giving - aspects that are most often kept hidden and shame-laden in this society.

From a previous post:

"A strong Black Moon Lilith in Cancer theme is "the feelings we're ashamed of," and nowhere is this a more prevalent theme than with mothers. Black Moon Lilith in Cancer is a symbol of the underlying feelings related to mothers, mothering, caring, nurturing, and supporting that are too dark, shocking, or upsetting to be accepted by the society at large. These are the emotions that many mothers (and supporters from both genders) are ashamed of: rage, hatred, resentment, depression, desire for freedom.

Black Moon Lilith in Cancer is mothers going to emotional extremes, crushed by the pressures of their increasingly impossible, dysfunctional, and emotionally-detrimental support positions.

Black Moon Lilith in Cancer is the vilified mother. At it's most extreme, it is the child-killing mother. It is the mother pushed to the absolute brink and beyond.

Or it's anyone who feels that way. Anyone who feels he/she can't take the bullshit for even one more day.

Black Moon Lilith in Cancer involves dark themes related to traditionally-accepted femininity, as well as aspects of femininity that are amputated to stay socially acceptable. Women's roles. Sweet and gentle. Light and congenial. Supportive and generous. June Cleaver. Mad Men. The Angel of the Household. Taking care of the men. Supporting them wordlessly in their positions of power."

Many women have struggled during the Jupiter transit of Cancer, coloured strongly by Black Moon Lilith energy, with a sense of dread and resistance to traditional motherhood and to the traditional support role within the home.

In many cases, women want to have babies (maybe), but they don't want to be stuck in the same stifling emotional circumstances as their mothers and grandmothers before them. They don't want to be trapped in a rigid, institutionalized support role within the nuclear family unit. They don't want to be isolated in the home with a child or children. They don't want to give up their identities. They don't want to give their power or independence away. They don't want it all to fall to them.

Can you blame them?

People can blame the feminists all they like: there is something not right with the "society-approved" traditional roles within the nuclear family unit for both men and women.

During the Pluto in Capricorn years, it would be hard to deny this - though millions will attempt it.

As people continue to reinforce insane and out-of-control work and business structures, the family unit suffers on a downward slide into dysfunction. It is provided quick fixes from the toxic Pluto in Capricorn structures like GMO- and chemical-laden convenience foods, along with technological babysitters like television and internet. Families are being pulled apart at the seams not by the evils of the women's movement but by "the way of things," by the standard models of living, by invisible, top-down control structures, by a corrupt, money-driven system.

The traditional roles and power divisions may work for some, but there is an increasing number of people for whom they do not work - yet this remains the standard societal model to use. It is ingrained, unconscious, automatic.

Many aspects of motherhood as an institution are isolating, upsetting, depressing, emotionally shredding. Women are expected to support increasingly dysfunctional set-ups, and this is emotionally, physically, and psychically detrimental over the long-term.

Emotionally-dysfunctional motherhood is conversely related to emotionally-dysfunctional fatherhood. Fathers, too, are running into severe problems related to the traditional roles, the traditional power set-ups in the family, and the traditional favouring of the mother in the court system.

The dark and denied emotional experience (Black Moon Lilith in Cancer) of many male supporters is just as potent, just as neglected, just as painful.

And all this is left unspoken, without broader societal awareness. All this is considered shame-worthy.

So what is left are the dark emotional impressions of generations of mothers, fathers, children, and families left in distress for far too long.

What is left is a blanket of dread, fear, and panic for women to wade through when deciding whether to have children.

What is left are Band-Aid solutions that patch things together temporarily with people blaming themselves and each other for problems that have been intentionally created for them.

The weight of this unspoken motherhood experience, this Black Moon Lilith in Cancer experience, is almost too much to bear. Women (and men) are being crippled under the weight of the denied emotional experiences of their maternal lines.

And all because these experiences have been cloaked in shame, left unspoken, unreleased, compressed, unaddressed, vilified.

It doesn't have to be this way.

As with all institutions during the Pluto in Capricorn years, the institutions of family and of motherhood need a major reconfiguration. The only way we can build something healthy, lasting, supportive, and sustainable is by taking into consideration all angles, even the pitch black ones. The only way we move out of institutions of emotional hell is by being stone cold honest about those experiences of hell, helping each other up and out, rather than sticking people (most often women and mothers) with the overwhelming emotional glut. 

Jupiter leaves its retrograde shadow on June 1 at 20 degrees Cancer, entering new degrees of the zodiac for the remainder of its transit. We are coming into the full truth about how we feel, even when it has that Black Moon Lilith edge.

Jupiter will leave the sign of its exaltation, Cancer, for Leo on July 16, 2014.

The wisdom we carry forward from here related to all things Cancerian (especially motherhood, care-giving, family, home, food, soul, and emotion) must go much deeper than it has in the past.

We are looking for full women's wisdom, full feminine wisdom, the entirety of the wisdom and experience coming from our maternal lines, including the difficult parts.

We are looking to provide awareness and support on these historically-neglected points.

Instead of taking the ingrained track and glossing over these sometimes emotionally brutal points, use the energy of this Grand Water Trine to see the broader and more reality-based picture of motherhood and family.

Bringing these shame-laden points from the personal level back to the collective level where they belong is a major step toward a more healthy integration of what Black Moon Lilith knows, feels, and experiences.

Please Note: This post provides a perspective, a Black Moon Lilith perspective. I realize this is not the perspective of the majority.

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Anarcho-Capitalism is a Fraud

As some of you may know, I'm not a fan of Alex Jones and crew. While I appreciate some of the information put out by this group, I believe it is a controlled opposition operative, forcing certain ideas into the minds of the questioning and researching public and re-directing away from more relevant topics and independent thought.

The Alex Jones Nation is mostly male, and it puts forth that oh-so-successful mostly-male perspective that has proven so beneficial to the planet. (Yes, sarcasm.) It is influencing millions of minds, mostly young, disenfranchised, angry males - a potent and malleable group looking for its TruthTelling (TM) leader and saviour at the end of the astrological Piscean era.

The Alex Jones Nation is a pack of "libertarian capitalists" or "free market anarchists." It has millions of foot soldiers out there preaching the cause, and I was hanging out with one of them recently. This was eye-opening and quite aggravating, as I saw the hold the Alex Jones Nation has on the minds of a big swath of the researching populace.

However, the primary system promoted by this gang of "libertarians" is, in my mind, a fraud. I say there is no such thing as a successful merger of capitalism and anarchism. It's impossible, as the ethics of each system are at odds.

Capitalism is based on a system of inherent inequality where one group (the owners/capital-holders) profit from the labour of another group (the workers/capital-deficient). Anarchism is based on a non-coercive system where each human is of equal importance, and the amount of money one has does not put him or her in a markedly advantaged or disadvantaged position over other sovereign human beings. (The use of a money system at all as we currently think of it would be debatable among anarchists.)

To me, anarcho-capitalists are selective anarchists, adopting what suits them and disregarding what would create conflict with their ideology.

Capitalism is based on a form of economic inequality that divides people into owners and workers, also referred to as the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. Most often, the bourgeoisie own the businesses because they have increased access to capital and resources. This is why they are able to be in the position of business owners rather than labourers, selling their labour and time for whatever the owner will pay.

Capitalism is based on a (corrupt) money system that is inherently coercive. Some people will have increased power and liberty over others simply because they have more money/resources or more access to money/resources.

People will also be doing things they wouldn't naturally do simply because this is how they have to make money to survive.

Capitalism is a system driven by money and the desire to accumulate increasing amounts of money and material resources, and that will never be a fully just or healthy motivation according to anarchist ethics.

Monday, May 12, 2014

Full Moon in Scorpy Scorp Scorp Conjunct Bad Boy Saturn

There is a Scorpio Full Moon on May 13/14 (exact May 14 at 1:16 p.m. CST at 23 degrees), which will be opposite the Taurus Sun and conjunct Saturn retrograde in Scorpio.

Moon-Saturn conjunctions have a bit of a bad astrological rep for being challenging, dry, and depressing. Our circumstances may seem unbearably difficult under this aspect. It's possible to feel cut off from any emotional sustenance under this conjunction, as we are heavily challenged to move on from detrimental emotional habits.

Some old comfort zones are being razed under this Moon. You can run, but you can't hide. And this is for good reason. If we stay there, in those cozy comfort zones, we don't advance the way Saturn wants us to advance, the way Saturn knows we can advance. 

Moon-Saturn has a maturing influence on our emotions, blocking us from using family or the past as either an excuse or a comfort zone.

So Saturn is squeezing us out of some deeply-embedded emotional patterns here, but as always, the short-term discomfort is for our own long-term good.

Detrimental and unconscious emotional patterns are being pushed to the surface under the light of this Full Moon, especially related to family dynamics and conditioning (Moon). You can pick a thread up now, unravel it, and see how certain constructs in your life are based on outdated circumstances and experiences.

We're shedding some limiting emotional conditioning now - potentially picked up in early childhood or even so far back as the womb - that is serving only to hold us back.

So we're blocked, we're stymied, we're emotionally constricted and uncomfortable. But we're working our way to a point of emotional catharsis related to the Saturn in Scorpio work we've done so far. 

This Full Moon shines a light on the progress we've made under the transit of Saturn through Scorpio, as well as on areas that still require a little work. Saturn entered Scorpio in October 2012, and it doesn't leave Scorpio for good until September 2015.

Here, we're challenged to peel the layers to get to how we really feel about things - and to then use how we feel to make successful decisions.

Clear and true motivations are key with Saturn transiting Scorpio, but there are some complex emotions (and situations) clouding and confusing our motivations now.

There is a strong fear - not unwarranted - about getting stuck in some emotionally-detrimental construct or contract.

We may be afraid to lose something or someone we hold dear if we are honest about how we really feel.

But the truth is, using that absolute line of honesty, uncomfortable though it may be, is the only way our lives are structured correctly, rather than unconsciously building hell frameworks that entrap and oppress.

Staying honest and authentic under this Full Moon, with the Moon in the sign of its fall, is going to take courage. It's going to be a challenge. But it's also the only way we can move into new and less draining emotional territory.

You have to be willing to let something die this week in order to infuse it with new life.

Love, money, and relationship planet Venus is in battle-ready Aries at the time of the Full Moon, activating the cardinal Grand Cross formation. This indicates a time when relations are highly charged, highly volatile, and prone to reversals.

All in all, the week of this Full Moon is quietly intense. The actions we take or don't take now (especially in relationships) have long-term ripple effects.

This Full Moon pushes some deep and complex emotional material to the surface, potentially explosively or via crisis state. It makes us newly aware of aspects of our own motivations and of the motivations of others. This is not necessarily going to be comfortable. Some will look away and pretend it isn't there. But with the strong influence of Saturn in Scorpio, turning a blind eye is not advisable.

We're working for that emotional catharsis point, stripped bare and standing in our own emotional reality and truth. We're working to prove ourselves, our emotional maturity, and our progress, so we can shed old, detrimental emotional habits like a snake shedding its skin. So we can shed desires that are related to an era now past. So that we can be released from the Saturn in Scorpio lessons we have mastered and integrated so far.

We are following any emotional discomfort or disturbance to its high water mark, to this Full Moon point, so that we can get to the bottom of it once and for all.

Courage, friends!

The Moon enters Scorpio at 7:07 p.m. tonight.
The Moon forms a conjunction to Saturn Rx in Scorpio at 6:02 a.m. on May 14.
Venus in Aries squares Pluto in Capricorn at 11:50 a.m. on May 14. 
The Full Moon at 23 Scorpio occurs at 1:16 p.m. on May 14.
Venus forms a conjunction to Uranus in Aries at 5:54 p.m. on May 15, marking the final aspect of the Grand Cross formation.

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Mercury Enters Home Sweet Home Gemini, and the Synapses are Firing Fast and Furious

Communication planet Mercury entered its domicile of Gemini this morning, a sign it loves. 

The messenger planet sliding into home sweet home Gemini indicates a period of time when things are full speed ahead on the mental and verbal fronts. With Mercury just coming out of laidback and relaxed Taurus, it may take a few days to get our brains back up to full capacity. But get them back up to full capacity we must. Things are swinging into gear. Communication, information, interactions, connections, and movement in the local society all speed up now. New ideas are starting to form. The synapses are firing fast and furious. There is mental and verbal fluidity and an ease that we haven't enjoyed since Mercury was in exaltation in Virgo way back in August/September 2013.

Interactions within our local societies and neighbourhoods are highlighted and of greater importance now. The smallest of interactions in our day-to-day lives are meaningful. Heading into full-on spring (allbeit a frosty one in much of Canada) with transiting Mercury in Gemini, we want to get out into our neighbourhoods, check in with our neighbours, re-establish contact, get things moving.

However, Mercury is also forming a square to foggy, gauzy Neptune in Pisces (exact May 11), indicating a bit of confusion and space cadet-itis. Our interactions can have a bit of a dream-like quality, and it may be hard to keep our minds on one subject for any length of time. The "mind fuzz" effects indicated by this Mercury-Neptune square are fairly short-lived, though, and should start to dissipate May 12 when Mercury in Gemini trines Mars in Libra, slowing to station direct. 

It is advisable to stay mindful now, keeping an ear out for any silver-tongued deceptions or diversions. Anything that hits your ears as "not quite right." Liars would generally do well under a Mercury-Neptune square. So would con artists. We are looking for information and tips that can put us out of reach of those elements, disarming them. If it sounds too easy or too good to be true, it is. You just have to keep gathering information until that is proven.

It's important that we get a handle on any illusions or false impressions we may be under now, asking questions and seeking other viewpoints as we gather information and perspective. Context is everything with Mercury transiting Gemini, and we have to be willing to seek information until we fully comprehend our situations, even when that information could disappoint or disillusion us, even when that information could drop our hearts out.

Our perceptions could be a little off here. Misunderstanding is possible. We may pick up a wrong idea or two from conversations or gossip.

If you don't understand something, ask. Even if you think you understand it, ask. Assuming people are on the same page now is not advisable.

Mercury will square wounded healer Chiron in Pisces on May 17, indicating the possibility of new information or perspective painfully puncturing an illusion or dream - but also providing healing context and new understanding. Conversations could be uncomfortable as painful topics are raised, topics we may be pinning a lot of hopes on, but they can also be healing, especially if we are conscious not to throw verbal salt into any wounds.

We have to be following the narrative keenly all along here, or this Mercury-Chiron square could catch us unaware and provide a reality-checking wallop. 

On May 15, Mercury in Gemini forms productive and supportive sextiles to Venus and Uranus in Aries, just as those two bodies form a conjunction at 14 degrees Aries. This indicates a revved up, "bright ideas" type of day with the potential for flashes of exciting, long-range insight into our futures. Things are moving and snapping and popping. Interactions, conversations, and pieces of information gleaned are opening vast new expanses of possibility around this time - but they are also closing doors on other, old-era possibilities, and this can be a little rough. We will re-visit some of the more beneficial effects of these sextiles on May 28, as Mercury in Gemini slows to station retrograde and forms a second sextile to Venus in Aries at 29 degrees of the signs.

The Mercurial action now is definitely related to the change of eras, wrapping our minds fully around where we are now and where we go from here. The way we thought things were going to go is coming into tense contact with the way things are actually going, and this can be painful at times. We are challenged to maintain an understanding of our own context - particularly within our local societies - during a very confusing, changeable, up-and-down, and uncertain period on the planet.

Any painfully-punctured illusions or stepped-on dreams can be seen within this context. As hurtful as it is, we have to apply logic now, setting our sights on movement into new and interesting scenarios and out of the dissolving dreams of an era now past.

We're gradually shifting our mental focus to the possibilities of the new era and off the devastation of the dreams and ideals that did not materialize as the Piscean era came to a close. We are looking at what we still have and getting excited by that, rather than focusing on what has been lost.

Not easy territory, but territory we must mentally master, nonetheless.

And we'll have plenty of time for these mentally masterful pursuits, as all this provides fodder for our next Mercury retrograde period, occurring June 17 to July 1 (3 degrees Cancer - 24 degrees Gemini).

Mercury enters its retrograde shadow (the degrees to which it will return during the next Mercury retrograde period) on May 22, so keep an ear on the themes around that time. The information and exchanges will be coming up again during the retrograde. 

Mercury retrograde re-enters Gemini June 17, where it will remain until re-entering Cancer direct on July 12.

Monday, May 5, 2014

Bold Moves and Plenty of Friction in Relationships with Venus and Mars in Mutual Reception May 2 - 28

Love, value, and relationship planet Venus entered warrior sign Aries, the sign of its detriment, on May 2, where it will remain until May 28.

With Venus transiting the first sign of the zodiac, it's time to move, it's time to go, it's time to surge into stronger and fresher relational territory. We fight to move relationships into new territory now, beyond the reach of old patterns, or we watch them wither.

Radical and unpredictable Uranus is very influential over our relationships and money concerns this month. Uranus heavily colours the transit of Venus through Aries, with an exact conjunction May 15, indicating a break from the old with some social shake-ups involved.

New relationships are emerging, rattling some cages and changing some established social orders. Ongoing relationships are going to the next level or splitting apart. With Venus conjunct Uranus in Aries, we are not looking to continue the same toxic relational patterns that have been dogging us for years, decades, and generations. We are looking to move into new territory here with stronger degrees of individuality and personal freedom built right into our relationship constructs.  

Venus in Aries is now forming a mutual reception with Mars retrograde in Libra that will be active until Venus enters Taurus May 28. Venus is transiting the sign ruled by Mars, and Mars is transiting the sign ruled by Venus, creating an intense burst of action in relationship and money matters designed to move us into new position.

Our instincts, our anger, our courage, our desire to move out of stagnant territory, our willingness to exert ourselves, our willingness to take risks - all these are guides this month.

Both Venus and Mars are transiting the signs of their detriment within this mutual reception, and neither is loving the other's territory all that much. We have a double dose of "love + war" energy going on here, and this is creating some friction and heated moments as we fight and squeeze our way into new relational territory.

Things are up and down, hot and cold, uncertain, unstable, likely to change. And this makes for some discomfort as far as knowing where we stand in either relationships or money matters this month.

We aren't comfortable with where we are at the moment - this will likely improve with Venus in Taurus and Mars direct at the end of the month - but this discomfort keeps us "hungry," compelled to keep trying for something that suits us better. This discomfort provides the courage to try a new direction or a different tack with relationship issues.

So there is action going on in relationships and money matters this month. With Venus in Aries activating the cardinal Grand Cross formation (May 11 - 15), things are moving. But with Mars slow in Libra all month (stationing direct May 19 at 7:31 p.m. CST), we can't count our relationships (or our dollars) before they've hatched.

Reversals are probable.

People's stated desires and goals can change on a dime under these conditions.

Actions are pressured, tricky, or thwarted.

A person's word can prove unreliable.

We can be moving passionately in one direction one day. The next, we are just as passionately moving in an opposite direction.

The better you know yourself and your own truth, the better able you will be to navigate these wishy-washy, off-and-on, "do I or don't I?" energies

Allow enough time and space for people and circumstances to re-balance themselves this month. Allow enough time and space to maintain your own balance.  

Circumstances are changing rapidly under the effects of the cardinal Grand Cross formations. In many cases, our feet are not on solid ground, and we must blaze a trail and keep on blazing in order to get to more stable territory.

This month, it's time to make some bold moves in relationships, with money, and with aesthetic. It's time to follow our instincts into something that has more life, excitement, and energy. But we have to make these bold moves under a socially acceptable cloak (North Node in Libra). We are moving with grace to get what we want without stepping on anyone's toes.

Certain relationships will be coming to the surface now, emerging, peeking out, ready to be seen and recognized in the broader community. There is a stronger "couple identity" possible here- in personal or professional relationships. People will be strongly identified with those they associate with now, so make sure you are with the right people.

With Venus transiting Aries in Grand Cross formation, first steps are being taken in new partnerships of all kinds, while ongoing relationships are moving to the next level (or splitting apart). There may be a feisty or resistant attitude prevalent this month in reaction to this relationship movement. Each new relationship coming to the forefront changes a whole network of relations, a whole web of social power dynamics. It shifts the established social wisdom. It has ripple effects. There will be some resistance to this, and we will have to fight on certain points that are important to us.

Venus in Aries will re-activate the cardinal Grand Cross formation May 11 - 15, forming an opposition to Mars Rx in Libra (May 11 at 3:27 a.m.), a square to Pluto in Capricorn (May 14 at 11:50 a.m.) and a conjunction to Uranus (May 15 at 5:54 p.m.). Feisty times.

This configuration creates a big push forward in relationships, a big structural shift. We are taking on new social leadership, forging into new territory while shedding or side-stepping old relationship patterns and pitfalls.

Break-ups can be expected, especially around the May 11 - 15 configuration, though it might be surprising which partnerships come apart at the seams or go down in flames.

Relationships are not all that simple or easy this May. Things are a wee bit spicy, a wee bit heated, a wee bit hotheaded and frictional. But also exciting. Refreshing. Moving forward.

Until Venus enters home sweet home Taurus on May 28, relations have a bit of an edge. (Watch the passive aggressive barbs that will be flying around this month.) We are battling for full rights in relationships. We are battling to have our full identities considered. There are also some potential powder keg dynamics in store, with the friction of both relationship planets in the signs of their detriment indicating some battles of will on the social stage.

In any case, we will be in different relational position by the end of May than we were at the start. Go after what you really need, even as that changes with the circumstances...